The Engagement
by Touhyou
Summary: Wolfram has finally resolved to end the engagement, but plans have backfired, everything is running in the opposite direction, and Yuuri has his own ideas. Eh? Shinou? What do you mean the human countries are up to something?
1. Chapter 1

**ME: Minasan~~! I'm back!**

**Wolf: Hmph. Aren't you suppose to update something else instead of writing this useless crap?**

**ME (shrinking in guiltiness) : I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But...I'll go crazy if I don't type this "useless crap" out! **

**Yuu: Eh? Isn't three of your journals due this week, Tou-chan?**

**ME (turn as pale as ghost) : GYAHH! The horror! AHHH! The terror! But if I can't get my mind off this, I can't do anything else!~ What to do, what to do...  
**

**Wolf: I've a suggestion...**

**ME: Yes?**

**Wolf: Write the freaking disclaimer and start WRITING!**

**ME(petrified): HAI!**

**Disclaimer: If I own KKM, I wouldn't be writing three journal in three languages(My hand! My brain! They're dead!), would I?**

**...**

**Chap 1  
**

_Wolfram von Bielefeld was one unreasonably jealous fiance._

"_**Yuuri!**_ Why are your hands all over that maid? What do you mean, she fell? Can't she get up by herself...oi!" he pulled Yuuri away from a protective silver-haired adviser, "Gunter, stop hugging him! He's _**my fiance**_, and I'm not going to hurt him - yet, unless he proves himself innocent - no Yuuri, don't you run away from me, explain this! Immediately! Right now!"

_Shibuya Yuuri was one extremely insensitive fiance._

"But Wolfram, I'm really trying to help her! She's balancing five trays of food all by herself and then...no! no! I didn't _pounce_ on her, she _tripped_, so I went forward to support her. My hands happened to go around her waist, well, she's taller than me, so that's the nearest part I can reach...no! no! I'm not trying to touch _somewhere else_! I'm only...argh, will you just stop twisting my words?"

_Their engagement was purely, entirely and according to Yuuri, accidental._

Wolfram crossed his arms with an accusing look. "I did not! You're finding it hard to defend for yourself because you _**are **_cheating on me! How many times have you done that since this morning? Five? Ten? I can't believe what a flirt you are-"

Oh no, not again. Yuuri was _not_ going to take blame for something he didn't do. "Firstly, I'm not cheating on anyone and secondly, we just finished our breakfast! How can I possibly cheat - like I said, I've never done that - during this short period of time?"

_Wolfram knew the king saw this as a mistake only, but he endured all his wimpy denials, waiting for the day when he'd change his mind._

The blond gave an indignant 'hmph'. "That just goes to show how deft of a cheater you are! One hour, and you've already exchanged winks with the maid serving the toast, smiled sweetly at the one cleaning up after that and now, you've managed to get your hands on this one!"

_But now, four years after that slap, he'd begun to think his effort would go to waste after all._

"I...Conrad!" Yuuri saw hope descending when his godfather stepped into the dining room.

"Wolfram, you know Yuuri better than anyone else. He wouldn't dare to speak to a girl without fainting right on spot back on Earth, so how can he flirt?" Hope had faded. Conrad...that was way back when I was sixteen! Things were different now!

"Hmph. I don't see him passing out from hugging the maid, I'm afraid."

"Ugh, I don't even know why I bother repeating myself since this happens every single day...Wolfram, for the last time, this is RIDICULOUS!" God, how could he get the message across if he wouldn't listen? Several times of sparing the lives of assassins and traitors whose crime against him deserved death had made Yuuri's unbelievably forgiving nature known far and wide. His kind heart had only further ingrained respect for him into others when he'd adopted Greta, who stabbed him right after they met...but when it came to Wolfram, he almost easily lost his temper(if he even have one) and there were times where he even yelled at the blond just to cut through his rants.

Right now, said blond was staring at him, and Yuuri knew exactly what he'd say next.

"If you didn't want to take this engagement seriously, why don't you just break it?"

Yuuri sighed. He'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. Usually he'd try to end this stupid argument before this question was asked, but now he was too frustrated and annoyed to care about what the spoiled prince would think of his answer.

"Wolfram, this engagement is an accident. We both know it. And we both are well aware that if I broke it, a whole lot of people will be unhappy and disappointed. If there was any other way to undid this nonsense without hurting anyone, feel free to do it yourself!"

There, he'd said it. It was going to be a tiring day, his head already exploding from all those meetings in his schedule that was waiting for him to attend, and towering piles of paperwork awaiting him in his office. He was in no mood, none at all, to deal with a jealous fiance who convicted him for flirting that didn't take place.

"Now, if you'd excuse me, I have a meeting with Ambassador Ryolem from the southern borders regarding our countries' alliance." He turned on his heels to leave, before the bitter part of him made him stopped to leave one last sarcastic remark. "Since you've so much time, perhaps you can find a way to solve our problem." With that, he stomped out of the room, unaware of the pained look on Wolfram's face.

"Wolfram..." Conrad was surprised to see his younger brother shutting his eyes tight, trembling as his hands became tight fists, fingernails digging into skin. Bickering with Yuuri had always ended with both parties angered, but this time, it was worse. Not only had it reopened the hidden wound in their relationship, it had tore it apart completely.

Hearing his brother's concerned voice, Wolfram forced himself to open his eyes. "I'm fine. I'm going back to my room." He lowered his head to cover his eyes with his bangs, hoping that Conrad didn't see the glint of tears in them.

"Are you sure..." Conrad started, but Wolfram had already left with a firm 'click' of the doors.

He needed to get away. Quickly. Before he lost control of those shameful tears that threatened to roll down his cheeks.

The familiar pain in his chest was suffocating. He returned to his room and shut the door quietly with his back turned to it, sliding slowly down the cool wood surface. Relieved and free to release that breath he'd held unknowingly, silent tears started to create wet trails right down to his chin.

_Find a way to get rid of this stupid, not meant to be engagement, huh?_

A weak smile played on his lips as he raised his head to stare at the ceiling. It was something he'd thought and mulled over in sleepless nights, when he longed to forget about everything, to free himself from the torment of this so-called engagement. With his vast knowledge of the courtly traditions as a prince, it didn't take long before he realized that this could be done with surprising ease.

It was his feelings for Yuuri that made him held on...hoping, wishing, waiting.

Not anymore.

_You want this engagement gone?_

Wolfram's sorrowful smile was beautiful but heartbreaking.

_That wouldn't be so much as a challenge, Yuuri. _

_T...T_

Shibuya Yuuri was beginning to think that his life was once its peaceful self again. With the exception of a few explosions from Anissina's lab occasionally, the blood-chilling wail of Gunter and earthquakes (Gwendal?), he found it extremely pleasing that there was no headache due to the lack of noise.

What noise did it lack, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Not that it matter. It was fine with him as long as he could spend some _noiseless_ time.

"Ahh, such a quiet morning." he sighed contently, stretching in his chair. The near to silent atmosphere had lightened up his day - even the intimidating amount of forms and documents on his desk didn't sour his mood much. _Speaking about them_, he eyed them with a bored look, _I should get to work before Gwendal came out from his hiding from Anissina._

He picked up a quill and started on the first paper right on top of the stack. He scanned it for awhile as the same sleepy feeling came over him. Ahh...! Who cares which family did that an old, dying tree belong to? Did they really have to fight over a plant that couldn't even bear fruit just because it happened to grow on the edge of their lands?

Oh well. It was his job to make a decision, no matter how pointless the problem was.

"I wonder what Wolfram would say if he saw this..." he smiled absent-mindedly as he signed his long name.

"I'm sure he'll just burn that form and the person who wrote it." Yuuri sat up straight with a jerk of his head. He breathed out in relief when he saw the person who invaded his space was Murata, not Gwendal. Still, knowing Murata (oh, and _how well_ he knew him), he was probably up to no good if he was willing to abandon the shrine maids' company to seek him.

He returned to his work. "What do you want, Murata?"

"That's what I get for a hello?" His friend sounded offended, but Yuuri knew there was a smile on his face as he approached him.

"You didn't exactly say hello when you came in. And as you can see, I'm pretty busy right now." Yuuri decided to ignore his friend after this. This way he could keep himself out of trouble and harm's way.

"Ehh...but you're smiling _so sweetly_ when you ask about Wolfram. I feel compelled to answer, you know."

There was a silence that followed, broken only by the shuffling noise of papers. Murata grinned. This was not the first time Yuuri tried the 'he-is-invisible' technique. By the quickening pace of signing the forms, he could tell that his friend was slightly disturbed by his statement. His grin grew. _It wouldn't hurt to tease him a little._

"Aren't you curious as to why I have come here?" he laid his hands on the desk, watching his friend twitched uncomfortably at the question. These was a brief pause. "Is it important?"

"Well, you can say that it isn't..." "Then don't bother me with it." Yuuri cut him off without even looking at him, determined to focus completely on his work. Murata wasn't the least fazed by his attitude. "Ah, but this is some interesting news I've heard about, you see." he leaned forward, his evil grin began to show visibly. "Something to do with Wolfram."

Yuuri's quill froze in midair at the mention of the blond's name. "What about him? I believe he's on patrol duty. Did something happen to him? Is he hurt?" He didn't want to sound too worried, but the way he gripped the form in his hand said otherwise.

_Bingo. So he really doesn't know. _The other double black merely kept back a smile and stood back. "Patrol duty...you haven't been talking to Wolfram lately, have you, Shibuya?"

Now Yuuri was really confused. "Of course not. How am I suppose to speak to him if he was miles away at the borders?" He frowned as Murata chuckled at his answer. That smile he was having was giving him the creeps. "Who told you he was on patrol duty?" "Well, Wolfram-" _He didn't scream at me for three days, didn't show up at the baths insisting he should scrub my back, and I didn't see him at meals. He never came to bed at night, either. _

All these only happened when he was away for border patrol. The empty bed in his chamber, the vacant chair next to him...these things that made him felt a little lonely and down only appeared in his eyes when Wolfram was not by his side. But he knew that he would return to him soon. Always.

"If my piece of juicy information were correct, you'd a big fight with him the day before you claimed that he went patrolling. After that, he locked himself up in the library for a whole day, then returned to Bielefeld." he raised an eyebrow. "Didn't _anyone_ tell you where he's going?"

Yuuri didn't answer. He was trying to wrap his mind around the fact that one, Wolfram had gone back to his homeland and two, no one has informed him of this! His fingers tightened around the quill, almost breaking it. "Where did you hear of this?" his voice was laced with anger.

"Oh, not far. Gwendal was quite willing to spill the beans once I offered distraction for him to escape Anissina, it seems." Murata's tone was quite jolly as he added, "Don't worry yourself over that though - Wolfram is already back yesterday night."

Already back? But... "You didn't see him." Murata concluded from his wide-eyed expression.

Yuuri's mind flashed back to their fight that day. He winced at his choice of words. But he did mean to apologize to Wolfram afterward, if he managed to find him at all. Wolfram could not be seen anywhere all day, making it all the more certain that the blond was mad enough to refuse sleeping in their room that night. In the end, utterly worn out and too tired to think, he retired to his room without saying a thing to Wolfram.

And even now, gone to and back from Bielefeld, Wolfram had been avoiding him.

He set the quill down in frustration as he stood up. "Where is he now?"

O...O

Wolfram had half anticipated Yuuri to look for him when he returned. Still, when the double black king barged into his room, he was more than a little shocked.

It couldn't be help, really - completely spent from all those traveling on waters, the seasickness still made him felt lightheaded - he was sleeping soundly when the door to his room opened with its sides crashed to the wall.

"What-" His first instinct was to draw out his sword from the bedpost which he pointed at the intruder's throat. When his eyes got use to the blinding sunlight after a few blinks, the person he saw at the side of his bed made him dropped his sword. "Yuu-yuuri?" The name felt dry in his throat.

The king didn't look like he came just to wake him up. He watched warily as Yuuri tightened and released his hand repeatedly before looking up.

"I'm sorry." Yuuri finally settled for that after a long stare. In truth, he had wanted to shout 'Why didn't you tell me you're leaving!' or 'Stop avoiding me!' but at the sight of Wolfram's pale, tired face, all his fury went out of the window.

_Wolfram easily gets seasick. He must be feeling really horrible right now._

Said blond blinked in surprise when Yuuri's face softened. Wasn't he mad at him? He knew the apologize would come, though. It was always the same. They would fight, Yuuri would come to him later like a nice little puppy, then he would kept saying sorry until Wolfram forgave him with an indifferent snort.

He knew that the young Maou was just afraid to hurt his feelings. Typical Yuuri.

"There's no need for that," he pulled away the blanket, averting his eyes as he got off the bed. "It doesn't matter anymore."

The cold tone in his voice alarmed Yuuri. "Wolf-" Yuuri gulped a little as he took in the lithe form before him - clothed only in a white shirt with a few buttons loose on the top, showing off Wolfram's perfectly carved outline of collarbone and slender legs with smooth white skin right up to his thigh. Thank god his shirt was long enough to cover where the black throng should have been.

Suddenly breathing became difficult.

Shifting stiffly under Yuuri's gaze, Wolfram blushed as he cursed himself for not fully dressed for bed. His body and mind was so heavy from his long trip that he had fell asleep right in the middle of undressing himself. He bit his lip. Diving under the covers like a five-year-old due to embarrassment was definitely not his thing. _It's worse than the pink negligee that almost slips off with every movement I make_ _- it exposes far more skin than I prefer...will he stop staring already?_

Yuuri was still gawking when a fluffy white pillow hit him in the face. When it slid off his face, Wolfram was furiously blushing with his hands on his hips. "Your Majesty, would you be so kind as to _get out?_"

"But..." Before he could say anything else, he was roughly pushed out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Wolfram gave out a sigh of relief when the king was no longer in his sight. Standing in front of the king, nearly naked, was not something he wanted to go through after...he glanced over his bed to a parcel on his desk. With this, the engagement would be called off accidentally without anyone knowing that it was planned. As his king had wanted, no one would be hurt.

_If everything go well, Yuuri and me would be nothing but a king and its subject. To accidentally break an accidental engagement._ _What irony. _

He closed his eyes, resting the back of his palm on his forehead.

Outside, Yuuri prepared himself to shout at Wolfram for the rude treatment, but changed it to "Remember to come out for lunch!" before walking away. It would be best not to pick a fight with Wolfram, now that he'd just came back. He'd just had to wait for another time to have his talk with Wolfram.

Still, the sight before this was definitely wonderful. To be able to see a half-sleepy Wolfram with unruly blond hair in the morning - plus, dressed like _that _- was something people would kill for. It was something that was his privilege and his only, and the very thought somehow pleased him.

Wolfram's temper was as fiery as ever too...for a second there, his tone was so cold that it scared him.

It was still the same old Wolfram he knew - nothing had changed.

Right?

X...X

Everyone in the castle was tensed.

Since Wolfram's return, Yuuri-heika's cheerful self had morphed into one with a slightly gloomy aura in one day. By the fourth night, the servants had sensed enough depression in the air to steer clear of the Maou's way.

Yuuri found his earlier theory of "everything remains normal" completely overturned.

Wolfram did show up for three meals a day, but his presence was unusually unnoticeable, and whenever Yuuri met him in the castle, he would only gave him a brisk nod before walking in another direction. During his free time he went to look for him, only to find him in a heated spar with the soldiers in his squad; Yuuri even tried to talk to him at night, but he would be long asleep when he was ready for bed.

Even Greta noticed the evident difference in Wolfram's behavior toward him. "Why isn't papa Wolfram talking to papa Yuuri anymore?" she asked innocently during breakfast.

Both Wolfram and him had frozen at the question. Wolfram coughed, "Nonsense, Greta. I do speak to him." That was the first time Yuuri had heard him in days. Greta tilted her head cutely to one side. "You mean, when you said, 'Don't hug me when you sleep, wimp!'?"

Choking sounds swept through the occupants in the room immediately. Gwendal's forehead had multiple veins crossing over each other, Conrad was wiping his mouth clean as calmly as he could, Lady Cecile's eyes were sparkling so brightly that it blinded them, and Gunter...he was bleeding through his nose on the floor.

Their faces were burning. "Erm, Greta, that's not it..." Yuuri attempted to save themselves from further embarrassment.

Greta chew the inside of her cheek lightly. "Oh, I know! It must be 'Don't pull my clothes off the shoulder, idiot!'" The choking noises became louder. And was that blood flooding at Gunter's side of table?

"T-that was an accident! I tripped!" Yuuri protested desperately. _There goes my healthy reputation._

Fortunately, from the gradually abating sounds around him, he could tell that they believed him.

Yuuri smiled warmly at Greta, patting her on the head. He could never get mad with this little angel. "You're thinking too much. Wolfram and me are fine. We still talk to each other." _I hope._

"Really? You two will always be friends?" Greta beamed.

"Of course." Wolfram pinched her cheek playfully. _Only friends. _He stood up. "Now, please excuse me. I'll be leaving for training." he left briskly under Yuuri's intense watch.

He walked down the hall as fast as he could, afraid that Yuuri might try to follow him. "Stupid Yuuri...always complaining about me kicking him when he couldn't even keep to his side of bed!"

There was a soft laugh in the shadows. "I'm sure he has reasons for being unable to keep himself off you." Wolfram jumped at hearing the voice. "Shinou?" he recognized it immediately, looking around in alert before hissing lowly, "What are you doing here?" Another laugh rang in his ears. "No worries of me being seen, for only you can hear me."

Wolfram frowned. "What-" his eyes widened in realization, "You're _**in my head?**_" There was a nearly inaudible groan at his deafening mind volume. "...don't be so surprise, Wolfram. It's only natural that a spirit being like me can enter people's minds."

"Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should invade people's privacy!" Wolfram accused at a slightly loud volume, gaining a rather weird look from a guard nearby.

A sigh could be heard. "You used to be more respectful than this. If I recalled our last meeting correctly, I was referred to as 'my lord'..."

Wolfram grind his teeth, remembering the meeting in the library.

_"I can help you," With sunny blond hair and distinguished features, Wolfram was the spitting image of the Great One. Still, Wolfram found his hair standing on end when Shinou smiled. It was a cunning smile, brilliant but dangerous._

_"I don't understand what you're saying, my lord." Wolfram frowned, placing the books back to their original positions._

_Shinou smirked. "You're my descendant, Wolfram. I know everything about you...including your plans to break the engagement."_

_Wolfram dropped one of the books with expanded green eyes, creating a soft thud on the library's carpet. "What...how-" "It's pretty obvious, considering all you read lately are these sorts of books," Shinou picked up a red cover 'Laws of_ _Engagement_ _and Marriage', flipping to the first page, then snapped it shut with a smile. "And that previous fight with Yuuri is the last straw, isn't it? Don't worry, if you let me join you, I won't tell a single soul - not even the Sage." he put a finger to his lips as he winked. Wolfram deepened his frown. "You're going to assist me in this? But Yuuri-" Shinou waved his hands dismissively. "Nah. My job is only to guide him in ruling the country, his romantic relationships are none of my concern." _

Besides, this was too much fun to miss. _Shinou laughed mentally. "So, what do you say?"_

_Wolfram mused. He didn't have much choice really. If he refused, Shinou would not hesitate to turn on him and told the Sage. But he was afraid of what he'd do once he was part of this. _

_He gave in. "Alright. Just don't do anything...unconventional." Shinou's smile was victorious. "Now why would I do that? You can absolutely trust me in this, Wolfram."_

Shinou chuckled, intrigued. "My, my, am I really that evil in your opinion? By the way, thank you for the compliment on my smile. I never know that it has that much influence on people."

_Total lie. _Wolfram thought, _He knows it alright._ "You know, I can hear that." Wolfram blushed at Shinou's clearly amused voice.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

The guard was paying him some seriously questioning looks right now.

* * *

**Yuu: Tou-chan!**

**ME: (frantically writing journals)...  
**

**Yuu: Err...Tou-chan...**

**ME : (eyes glued to journal)...**

**Yuu: (sigh) That's some deadly concentration...anyway, reviews are welcomed!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**

**T: T.T Sorry for updating so late...my computer died two weeks ago. I've to totally reformat it.**

**Wolf: Hmph. Can't even fight off a mere virus. Useless machine.**

**T: OI! Don't hurt Wolfie's feelings!**

**Wolf: (-.-lll) Why does it has my name?**

**T: ...because I name it?**

**Wolf: Argh! I'm gonna kill you! Don't you **_**ever**_** think of owning **_**me**_**!**

**T: UWAHHH! Yuuri help me~~!**

**Warning: Shinou being...Shinou?**

**Chap 2**

For the nth time in the week, Yuuri shrank away internally under the oppressive aura of Gwendal.

"May I have a question for you, Heika?"_ His eyebrows were twitching. This is not good, not good at all. _

"Y-yes?"

"Who is the king of Shin Makoku, the one we call the Maou?" _Ga-ahh! The veins! They have appeared!_

"Erm...me?"

Gwendal took in a deep breath, trying to keep his voice calm and not lash out at the quivering teen behind the desk. "Then _why, _exactly, is Your Highness signing your name as '_**Wolfram von Bielefeld**_' under the line 'Your king,'?" _Does this excuse of a king realize how troublesome it is for me to rewrite them?_

"Err..." Yuuri's face was a color of tomato, his eyes darting all over the room in effort of not looking at the irritated Military General. "I suppose, well, signing a different name would be more...efficient?"

_Yeah right! What am I even talking about here? Wolfram's name - and in mazoku language! - is so much harder to write than mine! That's got to be the lamest excuse I've ever come up with in my history of lying to Gwendal! He's not going to buy it. Definitely!_

Said man stared long and hard at him, before placing the wrongly signed papers back to the humongous paperwork mountain with a defeated sigh. "From the looks of things, you'll just create more work for me. Go out and get some fresh air."

Was he hearing it right? Gwendal was not going to kill him and willingly permitted a break? Gwendal?

"Eh? What about-"

"I'll take care of it. Now leave!" Yuuri stared at the locked entrance with disbelief. Now, now, was he the king of a country or some unwanted beggar on the streets? Why did everyone find it lawfully legal to have the doors slammed right in his face?

Yuuri stood before the doors, unsure of what to do and where to go from now. He was glad to escape work, but at the same time guilt was eating him on the inside. The guilt of saying those...things to Wolfram. He certainly deserved the cold treatment, he supposed, but hadn't he apologize already? It was a careless slip out on his part, courtesy of bad mood, and he meant utterly nothing by it. Surely Wolfram wouldn't take it that seriously?

He groaned as he rubbed his temples. How could he forget? Wolfram took practically _everything_ seriously. Their engagement, for instance. While Yuuri was in constant denial, he'd been doing his very best to perfect his role as a fiance. He even went so far as to stalk Yuuri all the time, taking over his bed, prohibiting him from having any physical contact with another woman (or man). Having his personal space invaded beyond his limit, Yuuri had to admit that it was intolerable and insane. But as he got to know the blond more, sharing joys, sorrows and pains, overcoming obstacles together, he eventually discovered that underneath the strong and unwavering pretty face was a soft, lonely heart.

_Does he really have feelings for me or is it just another thing he'd see as a 'royal honor'?_

Yuuri often wondered about this. Wolfram had always been honest with him, never the one to hesitate when it came to criticism. He was especially shamelessly straightforward with him regarding his confessions, declaring his undying love to him on several occasions. It wasn't truly repulsive - somewhere deep inside him, he was happy to know that Wolfram harbored such deep feelings for him, and there were times Yuuri even suspected he held more than friendly affections towards Wolfram. But Yuuri couldn't bring himself to confront this "forbidden" relationship due to his upbringing on Earth.

"Heika~~~" Oh, no. Yuuri looked warily over his shoulder to see his silver-haired teacher running dramatically towards him. In seconds, he was suffocating in a bear-hug. "Urgh...air, G-gunter, air...what-is...it?"

An expected melodramatic response. "Ah, heika! Such a brilliant question! I've long awaited for this great moment! Now that Gwendal (that devilish, cold-blooded slave-driver!) has excused Your Highness from your heavy duties (Will you just look at those papers! You can drown in them!) heika can now join me in our sanctuary of knowledge(We can spend more time together~~)..."

In short, it was time for his lessons.

"Ahem." his ears pricked at the sound of a familiar cough. "Please refrain yourself from publicly harassing His Majesty, Gunter." _This voice..._Yuuri's eyes went wide. "Wolfram?" He was astonished to hear the prince defending him - he thought he'd not involve himself with him anymore.

Wolfram's face was placid. He suppressed the urge to tear Gunter away from the king, and tried not to look away when Yuuri gawped at him. _Why am I even doing this?_ He was angry at himself; was he not resolved enough to forget his feelings?

"I'm not harassing heika!"

"Then release him." Perhaps as shock as Yuuri by his cool composure instead of fight and bite over the king, Gunter grudgingly let go of Yuuri as Wolfram turned to leave.

Yuuri stood there, motionless, until he realized that the subject of his thoughts was walking away from him. If he missed out on this opportunity to talk things out with the prince, he was positive that he'd screwed up whatever he did just as the case with the paperwork. Wolfram would haunt him in his mind, actions and dreams unless he could sort things out.

Although, if he thought about it more carefully, Wolfram had always been occupying his thoughts more than necessary...

"Wait!" Yuuri ran after him. "Wolf!" he called out to Wolfram who continued to ignore him. "Will you just stop and _**talk**__ to me_?" he grabbed his arm when he finally caught up to him.

Wolfram turned to regard him with an expressionless face. "I have nothing to talk about." Yuuri scowled, black orbs flashing fire. "Well, _I _have! If you'd just listen to me-" he suddenly stiffened and stopped talking. "Yuu...? Yuuri?" Wolfram gasped when Yuuri fell onto him. Before he could grasp the situation, a searing pain at the back of his head sent his world spinning to unconsciousness.

"Today? But..." he muttered faintly. He could hear a laugh in the background. "Shi...nou."

Darkness fell.

O...O

_Wolfram looked through the box of things that he was asked to bring back from Bielefeld. He picked up a rope of bloody red, frowning at it._

_"Why do I need this? It's for war, not breaking an engagement."_

_Shinou in a minuscule size grinned at him from the tip of his desk. "It's red."_

_"So?" Shinou placed his chin in one hand. "Try page forty of that book." Wolfram quickly leafed through the pages and saw the sentence._

'When a tie of red that binds the two is severed, so do all their ties.

-Laws of Engagement and Marriage for the Royal Court-'

_"That's it?" Wolfram threw his hands up in the air, "I went all the way to my homeland - by sea, too! - just because I need it red? I could have just gotten a normal one!"_ Not to mention, this rope..._He turned to eye Shinou suspiciously, "Care to explain how will it help me?"_

_"Ah, that. You think Yuuri would let you tie both of you together by the hand and cut it willingly without knowing the reason?" "No."_

_Shinou smiled devilishly. "Exactly. That's why for it to appear accidental, you need this rope and my help."_

X...X

Wolfram knew he should have outright rejected Shinou's aid when he woke up with a splitting headache and numb arms tied above his head, toes barely scraping the ground.

"Wolf! You're awake!" Wolfram raised his head with difficulty to look in the direction of the worried voice. His head must have been hanging limply for sometime - his neck felt as if it had been turned to stone. "Yuu..ri?" Damn it, his voice was cracking. He looked around slowly, trying to take in his surroundings. It was dimly lighted with some candles, the stuffy air a mixed smell of damp moss and dust. In the middle of the room, the royal insignia was engraved into the floor. What was he doing here? All he could remember before fainting was...he heard a familiar chuckle at his right. Turning to it painfully, Wolfram expected to see Shinou but it was someone else. His gaze turned cold. "Who are you?"

"It's Ryolem!" Yuuri, tied to a post several feet away in his opposite direction, introduced the young man beside Wolfram. "He's here for a two week tour at our castle as Xyrolia's representative, but..." Wolfram narrowed his eyes. _Xyrolia? That rising human country in far south...and this is their ambassador?_

Ryolem had waist long brown hair which he'd tied as a neat ponytail, a youthful, handsome face even by demon standards, and a pair of twinkling light blue eyes. He was currently leaning on the wall with his elbow, cheek in palm, watching Wolfram with an amused look. If Wolfram didn't know any better, he'd thought that he was another assassin sent after Yuuri and him by human countries, but the mischievous smile had gave his real identity away.

"He's possessed," he stated simply, not removing his glare from Ryolem. "He is?" Yuuri gave Ryolem a once-over. "That would explain his sudden weird personality if he was controlled...but by who?"_ Shinou._

"Why don't you make a guess?" Ryolem...no, Shinou, laughed. "It'd be a waste of time, I assure you. Because before you could solve this mystery, you and your fiance would be dead." Fear striked into Yuuri's heart. "What-"

"Do you know," Shinou started slowly, "Which quality of yours I admire the most?"

Yuuri looked at him, confused. "Ignorance, Your Majesty. Blissful ignorance." Shinou pulled away from the wall, trailing the outline of Wolfram's face with the back of his hand. Yuuri stared at it in contempt. "You're good at ignoring everything...war, lies, betrayal...anything that might stain you and your precious innocence. But what amazes me even more is, you can treat such a breathtaking beauty as invisible air." His hand came to a stop on Wolfram's lips.

Disgusted at the touch, Wolfram whipped his head aside sharply. His movement was caught with the ring on Ryolem's index finger, resulting in a cut on his lower lip. "Wolfram!" Yuuri cried out at the sight of blood seeping through the wound. Wolfram bit back his cry of pain. "And my, what a perky one." Shinou/Ryolem smirked, leaning closer. "Do you have any idea how people lust after him?" And to Yuuri's horror, he licked up the side of Wolfram's cheek, right up to his temple, earning an uncomfortable 'nngh' and a shudder from him.

_**What the hell? **_Rage burned inside Yuuri as his eyes threw daggers at that man, wishing that just glaring alone would be enough to wipe his very existence off the face of earth. Ryolem was lucky that he was possessed while having committed _this_, or he would have wished that he had never been born.

Meanwhile, Wolfram's glares seemed to be of no more use than Yuuri's. Shinou chuckled lightly as _What the heck was that?_ was clearly written across the blond's face. "This game wouldn't be fun without a little surprise, Wolfram." he kept his voice low so Yuuri couldn't hear it from his place. "And now, the main event."

What main event...Wolfram gave out a silent cry as he was dropped from a hanging position with a cut of the rope that bind him to the ceiling. Dizzy from the short fall, he gave little resistance when Shinou turned him to lie on his back, then retied his hands above his head to a table leg, all the while ignoring Yuuri's shout of "What are you doing?" Smirking to himself, he proceeded to cut Yuuri loose and led him to Wolfram's side.

"Lie down." Shinou instructed, pointing to Wolfram. "What?" Yuuri asked incredulously. Did he just ask him to lie on Wolfram? "I said, 'Lie down'. Do as I say if you value your life." Shinou repeated his instruction as he pulled out a red rope from Ryolem's pocket. He quirked an eyebrow at Yuuri who stared at the rope suspiciously. "I suppose you didn't hear me clearly..." he brandished the knife he'd been using to cut their ropes, "Lie. Down."

Gulping but with a slight glare, Yuuri clumsily positioned himself on Wolfram with his knees on his sides, careful as to not hurt the boy with his weight. Shinou snickered at Yuuri's gentle movement. "Ah, playing the nice lover now, are we? Don't worry, you have plenty of time to do that while dying." He tied the red rope around both of them so quickly that by the time Yuuri realized it, he was tied up together with Wolfram. Shinou took a few steps back and admired his handiwork with a satisfied grin. "Perfect. And while you two enjoy your time together, I shall excuse myself to collect some important ingredients for our game." He glanced at Wolfram with a knowing smirk. _You know what to do._

Yuuri let out a relieved sigh as Shinou's tall form disappeared behind the door, before looking down to check Wolfram's condition. "Wolf, are you alright? Any injuries? You-"

"I'm okay!" Wolfram rolled his eyes in annoyance, cutting him off in mid-rant. "Stop being such a wimp. Instead of worrying about me, why don't you think of some way that can get us out of here before that psychopath comes back and kills us in his 'game'?"

"But I don't even know what place is this! All I know is that it smells horrible." Yuuri scrunched up his nose as he squinted to take a better look at this place.

Wolfram looked at him as if he was stupid. "You're truly a wimp, you know what? Didn't Gunter teach you about secret rooms before? Every castle has them, in case of attacks or serve as emergency hiding places. Although some are still used for storage purposes, most of them are abandoned and the routes of getting to them are lost." he frowned at the poor maintenance of the room. "This is possibly one of those forgotten ones - I've never seen it before, even though I've lived here for life."

"Oh...so we're in between walls?" "No you idiot! We're _under_ the castle!"

"I see..." Wolfram waited for him to come up with some ingenious escape plan, but none was voiced.

"You're hopeless. Can't even think to save your own life." Wolfram raised his left leg as much as possible with Yuuri on him, "Take out a short dagger from my boot." Yuuri pouted, not at all happy to be referred as hopeless, but he knew better to talk back in this situation. Since the rope was only tied around his upper arm right down to a little higher of his elbow, Yuuri was able to reach Wolfram's boot and strained to pull out the dagger.

He was half way succeeded in getting it out when Wolfram continued, "Then use it to get blood from my leg before cutting the rope." Wolfram felt Yuuri stopped tugging at his boot. He looked up at Yuuri's blank face. "Why did you stop?"

"You want me to injure you? Using this dagger?" Yuuri's expression was replaced with a slightly angered one. "This rope isn't any rope, Yuuri. It can't be cut unless blood is on the blade that cuts it." Wolfram explained seriously. "And you'd notice that this rope gets a little tighter as time passes - that's how it works, and in the end both of us will die of crushed organs or suffocation."

Yuuri shifted a little, scowling as he came to realization that Wolfram was telling the truth. "Then use my blood instead." Wolfram shook his head. "It's no use. In the past it was used as a torture tool to torment humans, so it had been made in such a way that only the blood of a pure-blooded mazoku could affect its structure. Half-blood wouldn't work either."

"In that case, it can't be help then." Yuuri sighed as Wolfram braced himself for the pain. His eyes widened when Yuuri pushed the dagger back into his boot. "Yuuri, what are you doing?"

Solemn black eyes locked with his. "I would not hurt you, no matter what the circumstances. Besides, it doesn't look like the rope is tightening at a very fast rate. I'm sure we can hold out until help arrives."

"Are you out of your mind? There's that psycho out there who want to take our lives! Just cut the rope already! I won't die of a little blood loss!" Wolfram reasoned desperately, trying to make Yuuri saw the dire situation they were in.

"I'm expected for Gunter's lesson hours ago. The people in the castle should have noticed my disappearance by now." Yuuri said confidently. "I believe that they would find us soon."

Yuuri placed more trust in people than everyone else. Raised in royal court where deceit and lies were keys to survival, Wolfram thought it was an incredibly unrealistic idea that anyone should be easily trusted, but Yuuri had proved him wrong for many times.

"It's too risky to sit here and wait for rescue. Seeing that this place is most likely unknown to others, it'd take a far longer time to locate us. All it takes to free ourselves is a little blood..."

_Hurry up and cut that rope, Yuuri._

Wolfram was getting more nervous by the second. Yuuri had flat-out refused to do anything that would harm him, and Wolfram was wrong to consider that the threat on his life would make him compromise. Then there was Shinou's eccentric way of doing things. Of all ways that he could tie them together, he'd chosen the face-to-face style when back-to-back would be a much better and common method. The rope wasn't tight enough to suffocate them yet, but Yuuri's body warmth - which he'd pushed to the back of his mind right from the start - was now burning through his clothes and his skin. Their hearts were thumping against their chests in such a way that he couldn't differentiate which one was beating faster and louder. Warm breaths on his face only added to the rising temperature in the room.

If anything, this proximity was too close for Wolfram's taste and comfort.

"I won't do it, and that's final." The tone of authority in Yuuri's voice was enough to make Wolfram swallowed whatever arguments he had right back to his stomach. Yuuri could be pretty stubborn once he'd made up his mind.

"Fine. Suit yourself." Wolfram huffed, not really caring anymore. He didn't care what kind of sick game Shinou was playing, or that this plan had failed - there was always another way to break the engagement. He didn't care if Yuuri's face was a mere inch away from his...huh?

"What?" Wolfram asked, the pissed look still evident in his expression. "Is there anything on my face?" His question was answered by a smile. "Nothing. It's just that it's been a long time since I last saw you making such an angry face." Yuuri added hastily when Wolfram narrowed his eyes dangerously, "It's cute. Really."

Unfortunately, his comment only served to offend the blond more. "Cute? _Cute?_" He rolled his eyes at Yuuri's forced back laughs. "Seriously, I'd murder you personally if it weren't for this hell of a situation we are in..."

"You don't like it?" A curious look settled on Yuuri's face.

Wolfram's expression practically screamed "HUH?" at the demon king on him. "_Why_ would I enjoy being gagged together with the most brainless person I've ever known who keeps asking stupid questions? Worse, I'm at the _bottom!_ You cannot imagine the sheer humiliation this-"

"I happens to like this position," Yuuri interrupted in an almost cheerful manner.

"_Pardon?_" He WHAT?

"Well, since you're stuck with me, you couldn't very well run off without listening to me as you always did, can you?" Yuuri remarked thoughtfully. "I actually like talking like this with you, even though all you did majority of the time is shouting at me." Wolfram huffed again, fighting down a blush. "Hmph. Easy for you to say when you're not crushed beneath someone's weight."

"Oh? You prefer to be on top?" Yuuri leaned down a little, slightly brushing his nose with Wolfram's. "N-no, that's not what I meant..." Wolfram blushed as he began to stutter. "You don't mind being topped then?" Wolfram's blush increased tenfold. "Of-of course not! I-I..." He paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself. _Pull yourself together, Wolfram. Yuuri is just teasing you. Nothing you can't handle._

When he looked Yuuri in the eye again, his face held little emotions, almost none at all. "This is not the time to be playing the fool, Yuuri. Shi-Ryolem could be back any minute now."

Yuuri barely concealed his disappointment with Wolfram's cool response. He was just starting to get some interesting reactions from the blond when he suddenly rebuilt his wall of defense, shutting him out with a change of expression.

"I-" He stopped abruptly as air was suddenly squeezed out of him, making him gasped as their chests were pressed tightly together. "The rope..." Wolfram looked worse than him, his face pale and voice drier than paper. "Cut it."

Yuuri tried to argue, but it was already hard to take in air. "Please, Yuuri..." Wolfram's voice broke his thoughts, "I can't...breathe..." He saw the plead in those emerald eyes - the previous demanding look in them was gone. He hesitated. He was sure that this pressure was uncomfortable but definitely endurable, but Wolfram's condition seemed worse that it should be.

He might not survive this if Yuuri let them be for any longer.

Cursing himself for what he was about to do, he stretched his hands towards the back.

"Raise your leg."

* * *

**T: (reading reviews) LOL. Shinou is Evil. We all know that. Most of you think that Shinou would make this go very bad (which it is...evil me XD). Poor Wolfie. **

**O.O Holidays are coming...I promised that I'll update WID ASAP, so don't kill me yet!**

**Anyway, R&R! Let's see if Yuuri would cut it...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**

**T: Yahooooo! Holiday~~~**

**Wolf: (groan) Two months of pure idiocy...**

**T: (pout) Don't worry, I'll be out of your sight soon enough. Holiday triiiip~~**

**Yuu: No wonder you're busy packing the whole week.**

**T: *grins* Yup! (pats on shoulder) I shall leave Wolfie in your hands, Yuu-chan!**

**Wolf: (shock) What? No! Wait! You can't lea-  
**

**T: (smiling evilly) You're not my responsibility, Wolfie. Sayonara~~  
**

**Chap 3  
**

Blood Pledge Castle was in total chaos.

"...search the North wing! Imperial Guards! Form three troops to cover the South, West and East wings! You there! Check the gardens! And you..." Gwendal's strong voice boomed loudly across the castle grounds, shouting orders at every available man in the vicinity.

Behind him, Gunter flailed his arms around in complete panic mode, eyes wide and worried for his beloved king's safety. "Ah! What if he's lost somewhere in the castle, among these thousands of rooms...Oh no! What if he was kidnapped by an enemy and was about to be killed? What if he hit his head and drowned in the baths...gyah! Where are you, heika~~~" Maids scurried around anxiously to help looking as well.

Gwendal knitted his eyebrows together, creating a really deep frown as he massaged his temples furiously. Gunter and his "what ifs" were driving him crazy, if this missing king weren't already. Normally he would consider the possibility of the clumsy king falling into some random puddle of water and teleported back to Earth, but Ulrike had confirmed that no teleportation had been made since Yuuri's last arrival.

That left only two more reasoning: one, Yuuri had hid himself somewhere around the castle or two, he was no longer in it.

The first was most likely the case, since the king was always on the run before lessons and no one could make it to the castle's gates without being seen with all these guards on the watch. It was only a matter of time before they fished him out from a cupboard or a bush.

"Your Excellency, His Majesty isn't present at the North wing!"

"Your Excellency, no sign of His Majesty in the gardens!"

"Your Excellency..."

Reports came in an hour later. None of them were good news to Gwendal and his expression darkened with every new one. When a soldier came for further orders, he almost cringed under the icy stare of the commander.

He didn't dare to speak as Gwendal paced around the room, thinking hard. Things didn't look good at all. Yuuri, with his black hair and black eyes, were just too obvious and easy to spot. Unable to find him meant only one thing: the king's been kidnapped. He'd have to send Conrad and Yozak to investigate this while Gunter drained every single baths he could find in the castle. He sighed. Might as well let him do _something_. Anissina had invented a new device to help them - he doubt it'd find anything but damaged buildings - it'd be safer for him to be out of her sight for now. As for Wolfram...he paused in his tracks.

"Where is Wolfram?"

"Ah?" The soldier responded rather stupidly, thrown off by the sudden question that seemed irrelevant to the king's disappearance. Gwendal growled as he stopped in front of him, towering over the poor man. "_Have you seen Lord Von Bielefeld?_"

"No! Sir!" Cold sweat ran down the soldier's forehead as Gwendal narrowed his eyes. "Find him. _Now_."

"Yes! Sir!" The soldier scurried down the hall, rushing to give new instructions.

_Wolfram missing as well...I should have known. What trouble did those two get into this time? _Gwendal sat down with an irritated rumble, _Where's my knitting kit?  
_

O...O

Air. Pain. Both had blended together as part of the equation of respiration - every breath they took was a pain, and every pain screamed for more air.

Yuuri bit his lip to keep his mind clear, hands gripping the dagger which hovered above Wolfram's leg. "Yuuri, cut." Wolfram wondered, why couldn't Shinou just possess Yuuri and get this over with? Why did he have to beg for Yuuri to hurt him?

Why was he still hoping that Yuuri wouldn't?

His expression became pained as those bottled up feelings rushed at him. Yuuri took this as a sign that the rope was hurting him more and he tried, again, to convince himself. _I'd to do this, I must do this, even though it'd hurt Wolf_...he groaned, resting his forehead against Wolfram's cool one. "Yuuri?" Wolfram would have gasped if breathing was easier. "Rest." was all Yuuri said, but Wolfram knew that he needed more time. It was difficult to move after all.

Oh well. He could wait. Just as he always did.

He watched Yuuri as he slowly shut his eyes, panting lightly onto his face. How long had it been since they were this close to each other? He let his eyes traveled on Yuuri's face, trying to remember if there was anything different from the first time he met him. He always thought that this would be the face that he'd see every morning and night, one that brightened up his day.

The rope shrank, pressing painfully into their skins.

They both winced. Reality was always the cruelest wake-up call.

Hissing, Yuuri positioned the blade on Wolfram's leg, hands trembling as he cut through the fabric and into the skin. His heart twisted as it drew blood and he avoided looking at the wound. "Does it hurt?" He asked. Face tensed up by the stinging pain, Wolfram shook his head. He was a soldier, strong and proud, no matter how much others had emphasized that he didn't look like one. Despite his pretty appearance, he was a fully trained man who pledged to protect his country. _Besides, _he managed a woeful smile, _Physical pain was nothing compared to how I felt._

"Wolf?" Yuuri asked again, an uneasy feeling growing inside him.

Wolfram gave him a assuring smile. "Go on." _Cut it..._

This wasn't Wolfram...Yuuri wanted to smack his own head for thinking this. _But__ something doesn't feel right._ He shook his head. They'd already came this far, there was no way he could back off now. He couldn't let Wolfram bled for nothing. He bent his wrist in an angle to let the dagger reach the rope, which sizzled upon the contact with mazoku blood. It worked!

Just a little more...

"Busy, my dear prisoners?" A mirthful voice called out, paralyzing both of them.

They glared towards the door in fear and anger. Ryolem-Shinou grinned at their obviously unfriendly looks as he held up two hands to show that he came in peace. "Really, I'm not-" "Out of the way!" Suddenly Ryolem's body went falling forward. "Heika~~I've come~~" An extremely paranoid man appeared behind him and immediately launched himself onto them, only to be pulled back by a dark mood commander. "Behave yourself, Gunter." Gwendal reprimanded, eyes looking around before settling on the two. He raised his eyebrows.

Yuuri couldn't believe it. Help was here! They were saved at last!

But...why is Gwendal, no, why is _everyone_ looking at them like that?

Is there something wrong with...he looked down at the awkward position they were in. Oh. "Err...help, anyone?" he requested sheepishly. Conrad, who arrived after Gwendal, smiled and moved to take the dagger from him. His smile disappeared when the crimson red on it caught his eye. "Gwendal," he showed it to his brother.

Eyes slightly widening at the sight of blood, Gwendal let go of Gunter and quickly went to examine it. Blood, Wolfram's wound, a red rope, and Yuuri holding a weapon. Everything clicked in his mind as he realized the meaning of this situation.

Someone was playing with his king and brother.

Almost in rage, he wiped the dagger clean on his sleeves and cut his own arm. "Brother!" "Gwendal!" Everyone cried out in shock as blood gushed out and smeared the blade. Gwendal cut the rope swiftly and left Gunter to tend to those two. He went over to Ryolem-Shinou who was still face down on the ground. "Get up," he ordered, eyes narrowing. Ryolem-Shinou sat up with an impish grin. "Well, what does the Commander want with me?"

"What are you trying to do?"

"Me? Oh, nothing. Problem is, what do _you_ want to do with me? Are you going to put me into jail? Torture me? Execute me? The ambassador of your allied country?"

"You..." Gwendal muttered darkly, clearly irked by his annoying manner. "Aniue!" Wolfram's weak voice called out to him from the back, "Don't hurt him! He's being controlled, and I..." he eyed Yuuri wearily, "Yuuri wouldn't want to start a conflict between the allied countries because of this misunderstanding."

Gwendal abandoned his thoughts of murdering this young man there and then right away. Wolfram was right. He needed to calm down and think this through carefully, rationally, wisely and-"See? Even your pretty little brother say so. I'd love to make him mine," _ Screw diplomacy. This guy's dead._ "You should feel his skin-" He was silenced with a dull thud at the back of his head.

As he fell limply to aside, Conrad smiled non-apologetically as he sheathed his sword. "Ah, sorry, I find it hard to unsheathe my sword without hitting someone in the head with its hilt."

Yuuri breathed in relief. He thought Conrad was really going to behead Ryolem when he went for his sword. Thank goodness he didn't and only shut him up before Gwendal exploded. Conrad's smile was scary though - Yuuri made a mental note to self to never get on his godfather's bad side.

He exercised his half-paralyzed limbs while glancing over at Wolfram who was still taking unsteady breaths to recover. It must have took a lot of effort to speak to Gwendal just now. He smiled warmly at the thought of Wolfram defending his ideal of peace. Although the prince enjoyed insulting him, he always supported him in everything that he did and that itself was a great motivation for Yuuri.

Moving over to the blond, Yuuri patted him gently on the back to help him smooth out his breathing. Wolfram stiffened at the touch and looked up in alarm. "I-I...I'm fine, no need." He tried to push Yuuri away, making him frowned. "Relax, I won't hurt you." He pulled Wolfram closer.

Too weak to defy, Wolfram remained in Yuuri's light embrace and let him stroked his back. His heart skipped a beat when the king glanced down at him intently. "You got hurt." Yuuri stated softly, though inside he was boiling. The bleeding on Wolfram's lip had stopped, leaving a blot of dried blood on the edge of his lower lip. It was a bitter reminder of what had happened earlier, an eyesore to Yuuri's eyes.

He reached out and gingerly brushed over those rosy lips.

His instinctive action made both of them sucked in a breath of astonishment. Gunter covered his nose instantly. His heika - pure, innocent heika, if only he would do it to him...and that intense look - oh, he's feeling dizzy...

"Ahem." Conrad coughed beside them. Yuuri gave a rather awkward laugh as Wolfram scooted away from him. "Erm...how did you find us?" Conrad chuckled lightly at the question. "Dorcas did. He found Ryolem snooping around your room and reported to Gwendal straightaway." He placed a hand by his mouth and lowered down his voice, "He happens to catch Gwendal knitting..."

Poor Dorcas. They would pray for him to survive the commander's wrath.

X...X

"The betrothment almost break off?" Murata repeated in amusement. He was suddenly summoned to the office late at night and the news of kidnapping bombed on him.

Gwendal nodded gravely. "A Death Rope is used and Wolfram is the only full-blood mazoku among them. If Yuuri-heika had cut it..." Murata continued understandingly, "The engagement would be off. I see. What does the kidnapper has to say?"

Gwendal creased his brows. "He woke up remembering nothing of the event and we have to release him since he's claimed to be possessed by some spirit." "Spirit? You believe that?" Gwendal handed him a paper, "I've no choice. Wolfram states so in his testimony." Murata read Wolfram's neat handwriting and couldn't help to smile.

_'...the spirit in this incident. It'd haunted me for years and now it merely took the chance to take over a weak human. It's not atrocious and pose absolutely no threat. One can even call it a trouble-making but utterly useless, harmless and obstinate spirit...'_

"He almost die by his hands and he still fend for him?" Murata mused out loud, "Seems like Lord Bielefeld doesn't want us to investigate this annoying spirit." Gwendal nodded again. "He said it's no use trying to catch a ghost and we should focus on strengthening the castle's protection instead." "He has a point. Although the human was under control, he breached your security too easily, Lord Voltaire." And he knew this castle better than any of us...

Murata's glasses gleamed in realization. "Excuse me, I'd like to have a talk with Shibuya."

Gwendal stood up to see him out. "He's in one of the spare rooms."

Yuuri laid on his bed for some time, unable to fall asleep. Throughout the night, Ryolem's words flashed in his mind, transforming into an endless nightmare that changed into a sweet dream filled with Wolfram's lips, the soft texture under his fingers still fresh in his memory. He wondered how it'd feel like against his own...

"GAH!" Burying himself under a pillow for the hundredth time, Yuuri despaired over the possibility that he'd turned into a pervert. When he thought of Wolfram, those...ahem, inappropriate ideas would invade his brain. _Am I suppose to think like that of my best friend? Is it normal for me to wish for his gaze to stay on me while I can't tear mine away from him?_

"Yo, Shibuya! How are you?" Yuuri's face fell when he saw Murata. The answer was obviously no_. _

He definitely didn't feel the same towards him. "I'm okay. But Wolfram..." he looked down guiltily. The sickening scent of blood was something he never wanted to smell again.

"Feeling bad?" Murata sat down beside him, patting his shoulder reassuringly. "You're about to feel way worse after I tell you the real situation." Yuuri looked at him blankly. "Thanks for making me feeling better, Murata." "You're welcome. It's not that bad though - all you almost did are terminating the engagement-"

"I WHAT?" Yuuri jolted up. "It's understandable that you don't know about it. Cutting a red tie between two is one of the oldest tradition and it's the only one that doesn't require a witness. Once you cut it with blood, it's official."

"B-but, I don't..." "It doesn't matter, Shibuya. You accidentally slapped Wolfram into an engagement so the same applies here. Aren't you disappointed that you haven't done it?" Yuuri opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came to him._ Why aren't I?  
_

Murata pushed up his glasses. "Anyway, I suspect that someone is involved in this. There's too many 'coincidences' to begin with, and Wolfram is unusually quiet and tolerant with it despite suffering so much. He also mentions that a spirit is to be blamed for your kidnapping. Assuming that it's true and taking into account that the spirit knows his way pretty well around the castle - this spirit is one of our acquaintances."

Yuuri arched an eyebrow. "I don't know any ghosts." Murata smiled, leaning forward. "Here's a clue: he's familiar with the castle, which means he's old enough to be there when it's built." "There's no-wait, **_Shinou_**?" Murata sighed. "Is there any other ghost you know that enjoy possessing people? That guy is just...unmanageable."

"But why would he do all this? For fun?"

"It's hard to say. Seeing that Wolfram seems to know about this, it's more than a simple prank." Murata's voice turned serious. "He's really going to make you break it off, Shibuya." Yuuri was speechless. He'd considered this before, but when it came to really happening...he couldn't stand the very thought that Wolfram would leave him.

"Does Wolfram want this?" he asked very softly, almost as if he was asking himself.

"Who knows." Murata watched him with a meaningful expression. "Do you?"

...

Wolfram stepped into the dim-lighted library. "Your Highness?"

"Here," Shinou called merrily from a table. Wolfram walked as quietly as possible to him. _Whatever it is that he wants to show me, it's better something important enough to make me come here. _If Gisela found out that he was sneaking around without her permission, she was going to make sure he'd a pleasant memory of his recovery. He shivered.

Shinou pointed to a shelf beside him. "I hid it behind there. You'd love to see the contents."

Eying him warily, Wolfram groped about until he touched something. It was a little black satin pouch and hard to the touch, like there was rocks inside. Curious, Wolfram loosened the string around it and a familiar nauseous feeling hit him, making his blood ran cold. He released the pouch instantly and staggered backwards. Under the pale candlelight, it glowed an eerie red. Houseki.

Wolfram took in a deep breath to regain his composure. "You said you get this from Ryolem?"

Shinou nodded. "I was looking for a knife when I discovered this. I can assure you that the human knows nothing of this, though. His memory shows that he merely received these from a servant every week but he never opens it." Wolfram's shock from seeing those cursed stones temporarily vanished. "You looked into his memory? That's going too far, even if he's suspicious! And of all people to possess, why the _ambassador_? Are you trying to start a _war_?"

"He's a human," Shinou explained smoothly, "Weak and easier to control."

Wolfram put a hand to his forehead. "At least avoid getting caught then. Don't exhibit yourself in places that make you suspicious such as the royal quarters."

"But the entrance to the secret room is there."

"Speaking of that," Wolfram stared at him accusingly, "There's an unknown pathway _under the bed_ in Yuuri's room."

"The secret dies with the 18th Maou and it isn't shown on the castle's blueprint you have." Shinou countered coolly. "I myself have forgotten about it until recently." He tilted his head in the direction of the pouch, "Enough with the questions. What do you plan to do with that?"

Wolfram loured as he bent to pick it up. "I think we should tell aniue about this."

Shinou rose an eyebrow. "Really? You're going to tell him that the Great One found this when he possessed the poor human?" Wolfram glared. "Of course not! But having these stones in our lands is a danger too deathly to be ignored. Aniue should know what's going on."

"These stones are of too little amount to be a significant threat. Besides, you can't be sure what are they for - the human might be just using them to protect himself." Shinou reasoned, the playful grin now gone from his distinguished features. "Yuuri is currently in the process of signing treaties with several human countries. Bringing this out in public now will only serve to make this situation worse, and tension will rise among humans and demons. It's fine to let Lord Voltaire know, I suppose, but how are you going to explain how did you find it?"

"I..." Wolfram looked at the pouch hesitatingly. "So we'll do nothing about it?"

"Certainly not. Since we're the only ones who know about it, we can do a little spying by ourselves." Shinou's smile stretched from ear to ear, "Let's start with the pouch's owner."

* * *

**T: *bows* Thanks a lot for reviews! Yuuri didn't cut the rope( I did consider the alternative) or the story will be cut half way...  
**

**I won't be around for a week or so, but I'll try and make it up after I return with my limited writing time...so continue to R&R!  
**

**to those who: (have holiday) ****HAPPY HOLIDAY! (don't) IT'LL COME EVENTUALLY! (I know, I waited for it the whole year) **

**(have SPM) GOOD LUCK!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**

**T: (breathe in happily) Ah, it's good to be back. I spent so much time in hospital that I practically live there.**

**Wolf: I thought idiots never get sick?**

**T: (pout) It's one of my family...anyway, I'm too busy at the moment to fight for the rights over KKM, so it still belongs to its rightful owner - Takabayashi Tomo (original writer)!**

**Chap IV**

When Shinou said 'spying', Wolfram thought it meant 'observing secretively from afar', not 'interacting directly as friends'.

Not that he had much choice in this though.

"Could you be...Lord Wolfram von Bielefeld?" Wolfram's way to the training grounds was obstructed by a hopeful face. The seriousness in those brown eyes belonged to the ambassador caused a fleeting panic in Wolfram. Could it be that he have found out about Shinou? "Yes, err, how may I help-"

"Please accept my deepest apologies!" Ryolem did a perfect ninety degree bow as Wolfram stepped back in shock at his sudden movement. "I'm awfully sorry for what I've done. I'm really grateful for Your Excellency's generosity for sparing my life, but the crime I've committed is certainly worthy of death. A death sentence would most befit me-"

"Excuse me," Wolfram interrupted him before he could make himself anymore guilty. He smiled a little in hopes to convince Ryolem that he did not mind at all. "I believe you are completely innocent. A spirit has used your body against your wishes and we're the ones who have provided insufficient protection for you in this matter. So please, there's no need to blame yourself." It's all that old man's fault...

Ryolem straightened up with an unbelieving look. "Really? But...but Yuuri-heika, he told me about the things that I can't seem to remember, like the kidnapping and how I..." He suddenly turned red and averted his eyes from Wolfram. Wolfram frowned. Wimpy Yuuri - couldn't even tell a white lie to avoid awkward situations like this. Just how much had he told Ryolem?

"I...you..." Ryolem's hopeless stuttering was getting on Wolfram's nerves. He decided to break it. "You mean you licked me." He knew he was a little too blunt, but the ambassador's reaction was too much. "UWAHH!" he jumped a great way back, hands going in all directions to block out imaginary attacks. "Forgive me...! I...I...don't know anything when I did it! I wouldn't do it if I were conscious but then...gahh! It's really _bad_! Bad of me, I mean, certainly not Your Excellency, of course! No, Your Excellency tastes great-ah no, I **don't** mean it like _that_, I..." Wolfram could only stared as the poor young man ranted on. He looked like he was about to cry.

So this is the ambassador of Xyrolia?

Something about him was familiar to Wolfram - the way he flustered around brought a warm feeling that he used to know. And this was just..._funny_.

For the first time in that week, Wolfram laughed.

Ryolem stopped rambling. All the soldiers on the training ground turned to gawk at their captain, savoring this rare and pretty sight. Two floors above where the office was, Yuuri looked down in astonishment. This sound...this laughter...Wolfram?

He smiled at the laughing figure - Wolfram had finally brightened up a little - he always thought the joy on Wolfram's face was something akin to the sun. Hope and energy. Passion and spirit. All these was a definition of Wolfram. A small frown came to him at the sight of a slightly stunned Ryolem by Wolfram's side. Was he the one that make Wolfram laugh?

Yuuri shook his head, trying to get rid of the light discomfort in his chest. He should be happy that Wolfram's happy, no matter what or who the cause was. It was a good thing as far as he was concerned.

_I shouldn't be bothered by this._

Yuuri soon found himself eating his words.

Yet another morning, Yuuri woke up without the presence of Wolfram by his side. Usually at this early hour the prince would still be snoring away in a manner that Yuuri found strangely cute (he'd never tell Wolfram that). He had only one explanation for this strange occurrence - Ryolem. Wolfram had been spending an awful lot of time with the ambassador as of late. Aside from the baths, Ryolem was always seen around Wolfram, even under the hot sun as he watched him trained his troops. Catching the two in the library talking animatedly - mostly on Ryolem's part - was no longer a surprise. The whole castle was buzzing about this extraordinary pair - everyone knew that Wolfram used to resent humans. Although he'd not been as aggressive as before on this issue thanks to Conrad and Yuuri's constant preaching, it wasn't likely that he'd change his mind about humans right away.

Yuuri had struggled internally several times about whether or not he should question this sudden and unusual friendship, but in the end he gave up in fear of another argument with the blond. Besides, it was rare for Wolfram to accept a _human_ as a _friend_, not some detestable being that would stab you the moment you turned your back. This could be considered a positive change for Wolfram and it would likely do good to the two countries' diplomatic relationship.

But what was this irritating feeling that felt like a rock on his chest?

He frowned - he was doing that more than normal lately - and continued staring at Wolfram's side of bed until a knock on the door pulled him back from his thoughts.

"Heika?" Conrad stepped in with his usual smile. "You ready for today's round?"

Yuuri fell back onto his pillow. He was too vexed and bothered at the moment to go for his morning run. The uneasiness he felt didn't even make sense to him! He groaned into the pillow. "Ten more minutes, Conrad. I'll be up then...and it's 'Yuuri'!" A jog for fresh air might help him clear his head, hopefully.

His reply surprised Conrad. He already came in late this morning because he'd heard that Yuuri hadn't been sleeping well lately, thinking that half an hour more of sleep would help his godson stay awake a little longer in the day. And even so he'd refused to get up immediately - Conrad looked to the large bed and shook his head - he'd a rough idea of the reason for this.

"Understood. I'll be waiting at the usual place." Conrad bowed and turned to walk out, "Take your time, Yuuri."

As the doors clicked shut, Yuuri turned away from the pillow to stare at the same empty spot. He could feel his own annoyance building up already, and still he couldn't figure out just _what _was it that troubled him so much. Argh...he wished Wolfram was here.

As if his wish had been heard by the gods, the voice he yearned for more than anything else this past few days rang behind the doors. "Move faster, you're too slow!" He smiled at the obviously impatient tone. As short-tempered as always, Wolfram.

"But you're walking too fast!" A panting voice froze Yuuri's smile, "And I think I shouldn't be here," the voice dropped to a shaky whisper, "What if I get caught again? The Commander would definitely have my head this time, he's scary..."

Wolfram grunted. "Hmph. There won't be anyone here around this time. Yuuri is most likely with Conrad right now. No one will know you've been here." Yuuri frowned as he kept quiet instead of making his presence known.

"Eh? I was hoping that heika might be here...though I'm sure he'll be angry if he knew I went into your room without permission." Wolfram rolled his eyes. His main purpose was to come back and get a book that Ryolem happened to be interested in. He really didn't want to think about Yuuri right now. "Knowing Yuuri, he probably wouldn't care about this." Yuuri's expression darkened further - what did he mean, he wouldn't care?

The door was pushed opened. "But aren't you his-" Ryolem jaw-dropped as a not-so-happy Maou came into sight. "Hei-hei..." He began to stammer, but Wolfram was currently too shock to hit him on the head to silence him.

He couldn't believe that Yuuri, always the early riser, was still in bed. He groaned internally at his extremely bad timing. How ever is he going to explain this...no wait. He almost slapped himself for worrying about Yuuri's reaction. He must be stupid to think that Yuuri would actually question their suspicious sneaking into the royal bedroom...

"Why are you here?" An evidently acid tone.

Eh? Wolfram blinked blankly, for once unable to come up with a come back at Yuuri. Ryolem immediately hid behind him, hoping that the Maou's foul mood wasn't directed at him. Yuuri deepened his frown at this. There it was again, that irritating feeling.

It took Wolfram a good few seconds before his brain regained its working condition. He tried to look more intimidating by putting his hands on his hips. "I...this is my room! I've every right to come here!" Yuuri raised an eyebrow. "Not you, him." Him...? Wolfram could feel someone shaking violently behind him. Crap! He totally forgot about Ryolem!

"Ah...he...we..." Wolfram hated himself when he was like this. Where did his famous confidence go when he need it? He bit his lips to prevent himself from having a nervous breakdown.  
_Calm down. I've done nothing wrong. There's no need to explain myself in the first place._

He tilted his head aside dismissively. "Never mind that, he's not going to steal anything. Just go back to sleep or something." He paused, contemplating Yuuri. "Are you...sick?" If Yuuri didn't want to know why in Shin Makoku is Ryolem here, he would have been touched by Wolfram's concern. "That's not what I ask-"

"Wonderful morning, Your Majesty!" Ryolem jumped out with a spirited wave. "I'll be outside if you need me, Wolfram." He left a quick whisper before dashing out of the room. Wolfram's eye twitched. That traitor...

He clamped his jaw tightly and walked to the drawer where he remembered placing his book, all the while trying to ignore Yuuri's existence. Just open it, take the book, walk out and..."Where are you going?" He stopped in his tracks. "The town. I'm giving Ryolem a tour of it today." _Why do I even answer him..._

"Tour? You mean like a tour guide?" Yuuri asked, stepping to the wardrobe and rummaged through it. It wasn't hard to choose what to wear - all he wore was the same plain, black school uniform. Still, he was glad that he wasn't wearing anything too fancy or formal, even though it'd be nothing bright but the royalty black.

Wolfram didn't know what exactly does a tour guide do, but he guessed from the term that it was likely to involve guiding. "Yeah, so don't expect me for breakfast or lunch."

Yuuri dropped his uniform. The whole day. Wolfram wouldn't be around until sundown to introduce their proud town of Shin Makoku to Ryolem, an honored guest. _Somehow, this is disturbing..._Urgh! There he goes again, getting worked up for nothing_. _He shook his head wildly, attempting to rid himself of that weird feeling.

"Yuuri?" Maybe Yuuri was feeling sick after all; he stayed in too late for his normal standards. Should he get Gisela? "Ah, nothing! Nothing! I'm perfectly fine! I'm not thinking about going with you at all! Ahaha..." Yuuri laughed awkwardly, mentally strangling himself for being such an idiot. For a split second he could understand why was he called a wimp(Not that he'd admit it. Never!)

Yuuri wanted to go? Ah, of course. What could be a better excuse for taking leave from work than this? Wolfram loured as he walked towards the exit again, muttering something like 'Irresponsible, lazy, slacker...' under his breath. "See you later."

Seeing Wolfram's back turned on him made Yuuri panicked. Again, it didn't make sense to him, but he really disliked the very idea of letting Wolfram to return to Ryolem. He'd to do something to make Wolfram stay with him a little longer, just for the sake of it. Anything.

Wolfram was half way to the door already. He needed to think of something. Fast. But what was it? There wasn't anything that he could say.

Wolfram came to the door. Shoot! This is bad! Isn't there anything he can get Wolfram to do? To preoccupy him with?

Wolfram reached out for the door. At this rate, Wolfram would be gone soon! Oh enough! He'd take anything at this point! **_Anything_** would do!

He grabbed the nearest clothing available to him at light speed and screamed out at the top of his lungs. "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WEAR MY CLOTHES!"

Pin-drop silence could be heard in the room as Wolfram rooted to his spot, hand on the door. Yuuri swore he heard the distant echo of "Ahou! Ahou!"; not that he'd object to it anyway - he was sure that he sounded like a complete idiot from what he just said.

Oh god. He slapped a hand to his forehead. What. Did. He. Just. Say?

Left hand clenched in fist but remained where it was, Wolfram whipped his head around with a big "**_HUH?_****_!_**" Did that fragile thread of sanity in the wimp's brain finally snapped? _What the hell was that?_

_Ah, this was it. _Yuuri eyed Wolfram's angered expression in despair. _Wolfram is going to deliver the ultimate punishment to me for disgracing the Maou's reputation._

Stomping over to Yuuri, Wolfram thought of a thousand and one ways to torture and murder this pathetic being that was unfortunately the ruler of their kingdom. He grabbed the front of Yuuri's shirt and yanked him forward to eye-to-eye level. "_You thick-skulled wimp-_" He stopped as he saw the particular set of clothing in Yuuri's hands.

"This..." Wolfram slowly released Yuuri from his dead grasp. Yuuri coughed several times to get air moving in his throat while trying to see what he was holding from the corner of his eyes. Please not let it be something worse than this...

Midnight black. Just like his school uniform's, but far more formal and had an elegant design with numerous buttons down the front, along with a ton of accessories that he didn't even know. He sighed again. This was definitely the worst - he'd doomed himself, by his own hands, with the formal attire that Gunter and Cecile had been trying to shove on him months ago.

"Being the wimp you're, you probably have no idea how to wear this properly, do you?"

Eh? Yuuri looked up in astonishment. It was by all means insulting, but at least Wolfram thought his outburst to be understandable and there was now a valid reason for him to stay. He nodded feverishly. "Will you...well, help me?"

Wolfram widened his eyes at this request. Yuuri just-no, this was impossible, but he-"You want me to dress you?" He blushed when he asked it out loud, but to his utmost surprise, Yuuri nodded.

Wolfram turned a darker shade of red. "St-stop joking! I'll just get the maid..." He trailed off at Yuuri's dejected expression. What's with him? Surely the maids would do a better job... He frowned. He didn't want them to touch Yuuri. Just the thought of it made him burned. Tsk. His possessive side was getting the better of him. The more he wanted to hide it, the more it was showing itself. He had to get rid of it if he wanted this one-sided confusion to end.

_But for now, _Chewing on his lower lip in frustration, Wolfram threw the book aside and snatched the clothes from Yuuri.

He'd deal with this idiot himself.

"I've no choice then. Take off your clothes."

"Eh? Why?"

"You will die from the heat if you wear your bajoma in this, idiot!"

"It's Pa-ja-ma!"

"Ah, whatever! Take it off already will you!"

"Fine, fine! I'm taking it off now! You don't have to shout at me!"

"That's because you-" Wolfram felt his face heated up at the sight of Yuuri's slightly tanned body when he finished took off his shirt. He held up one of the clothes to block his vision as well as to obscure his blush. Oh, great. He hadn't dare to look at Yuuri properly for so long that he actually blushed at the mere sight of more skin. This dress-up was going to be a nightmare.

"Erm...Wolf? Which one am I suppose to wear first?" Yuuri's uncertain voice came from the other side of the clothes. Wolfram huffed at the obviously dumb question and flung the pile of clothes down, temporarily forgetting the reason he placed them in front of his face. "Of course it's the-" he turned away heatedly, muttering, "...shirt, you idiot."

"Oh." Wolfram relaxed a little as Yuuri bent down to pick out the white shirt with inhuman numbers of buttons - he wondered how long would it take to button all of them. Their design made it extremely hard to button too. Yuuri put it on as he stood up, and soon found himself battling with the buttons as he struggled to put them together. Gah, were they even buttons in the first place? They just kept slipping off...

Hearing a sigh at his side, Yuuri tried harder and ended up messing up even more. If there were any other time he truly felt inferior in Wolfram's presence, this would be one of them. He tensed up as two hands pried his away from the poorly treated buttons - they were going to be torn off the way Yuuri violently tugged at them - and took over the buttoning. As the buttons were done in an amazing speed (to Yuuri, that is), he heard a growl from the hands' owner.

"...stupid wimp, didn't Gunter teach you the proper way of wearing a formal attire?" He paused at the last one, raising a questioning eyebrow at Yuuri. No, that's wrong. Knowing Gunter, this would be the most exciting lesson for him and he would never skip it for his life. "Or should I ask - have you listen to any of the things he taught you? At all?"

Yuuri's only response was an awkward 'uh...' but that was all he needed to comfirm his suspicion. Typical.

He snorted as he turned to examine the accessories. Brooch, cravat, neck chain, shoulder chain, badges...Yuuri didn't even wear this much for his crowning ceremony (well, he did struggle a lot when they tried to put something else on him).

He sighed. He'd decided to help, so he'd to see this through till the end.

Yuuri eyed him curiously as he fingered each item until he pulled out a silver silk and held it over his neck.

"What is-" he shut up immediately as Wolfram sent him a glare. The prince slid it in and around his collar before he explained grumpily, "It's a cravat. If you observe more carefully in the morning, I tie it everyday around my neck." Wolfram's gaze fell from his face and focused on the task before him. "Not that I'd expect you to pay any attention to that."

Yuuri frowned at Wolfram's sudden sullen tone. He sounded disappointed, and it made Yuuri really uncomfortable other than his close proximity.

Minutes ticked by with Wolfram working his hands expertly, and he never looked up at him after that. Shifting occasionally to let Wolfram adjust the cravat, Yuuri stared at the blond's mop of golden hair with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I did notice," he muttered.

Wolfram's movement slowed down a little. "What?"

Yuuri appeared a bit embarrassed as he put a hand to the back of his head. "I, err, often watch you when you tie it," he looked away when Wolfram raised his head in surprise, "I've always wanted to ask you what it is, but you're exceptionally cranky in the mornings, and you never face me when you dress-" He choked when the cravat tightened suddenly around his neck.

Seeing that the king turned purple in the face, Wolfram immediately released his firm grip on the clothing. "Ah! Sorry!" he blurted, then crossed his arms over his chest. "St-still, it's your fault for saying that out of the blue!"

Yuuri coughed for several moments, wondering what made Wolfram so flustered. Something told him that this conversation was bothering Wolfram, and unless he wanted to die young, he better changed the topic before Wolfram accidentally murder him again.

"Anyway, why are you taking your precious time out from training to accompany Ryolem?" He wouldn't mention that ambassador if he could help it but it was the only question he could think of now. Why had he developed a dislike towards the friendly and cheerful young man was anybody's guess. He couldn't tell the reason himself, and the unfriendly feeling made him felt as if he had just committed a crime.

Wolfram stiffened. He was hoping Yuuri would drop the subject and let it go. Taking Shinou's advice, he had decided to hide any information about Houzeki from others including Yuuri. For the past few days he tried his best to act as normally as possible around Yuuri so that he wouldn't suspect anything. Of course, his sudden close relationship with Ryolem had drawn unneeded attention; he wasn't deaf or oblivious to the rumors flying around.

It was a good thing that Ryolem was quite sociable and willing to befriend anyone who was interested in his long speeches about Shin Makoku - apparently he was a scholar who was deeply fascinated with demons and their country. His studies and knowledge on the demons' country shocked even Wolfram himself who had been given the best education there was to offer. It wasn't hard to hang around the passionate youth, aside from his constant rambling, and it wasn't long before Wolfram gained some information concerning the stones from him.

_"Oh this? Our king says it's a lucky charm," Ryolem wasn't afraid to talk about the pouch he received at all. It appeared that he really didn't know its contents or the grave consequences they might bring if found. "He asks me to give it to a friend of his at the border of the town when there are three of them in my possession."_

It was the third week of Ryolem's stay at the castle now, and today was the day he planned to visit the Xyrolia king's friend. He happily accepted Wolfram's offer to show him around while at it, not knowing that his true motive was to know where or who these stones were going to.

Wolfram still had no idea of what was going on, but he truly hoped that whatever that was going to happen, he wouldn't have to face Ryolem as an enemy. The time of their acquaintance was short but Wolfram found himself to like him more - it was hard not to like such a bright and joyful person - despite him being a human.

_My brother is a half-human, my daughter is a human and the one I lo..._Wolfram shut his eyes, annoyed. _Why do I always end up involving myself with those who aren't demons?_

"Wolf?" Yuuri asked. Wolfram suddenly spaced out on him - he'd been doing that a lot these days.

Wolfram snapped out of his thoughts and narrowed emerald eyes at him. "Err...you don't have to answer if you don't want to..."

"I never plan to answer in the first place," Wolfram huffed, tugging at the cravat again. If he wanted to start his investigation, the sooner he finished this the better.

"Peevish as usual in the morning..." Yuuri murmured, and once again the air was squeezed out of him as the cravat strangled him. His hands instantly flew to Wolfram's and yanked them away from his neck. "A-are you trying to _kill_ me?" he gasped, gripping Wolfram's wrists tightly.

Wolfram glared at him. "Here I am trying to help you, and all you ever did is complain. Now let go!" He tried to wring his hands out from Yuuri's but Yuuri held on. "Let me finish this and you can do whatever it is you're going to do!" What exactly did Yuuri want to do in this heavily adorned clothes?

Yuuri paled visibly at the question. Oh shoot. He was going for- "Morning run..." he breathed weakly.

"Morn-" Wolfram's eyes bulged. This idiot..."You're going to run in _this_?" He wretched his hands from Yuuri's loosened grip and began to take off everything.

"Wait! I'm not going-" Yuuri really hated himself now. He and his big mouth. How could he be so stupid? "Really, Wolf, I'm not..."

"Heika, you done-" A blonde head poked in, and froze at the scene of Wolfram unbuttoning till the middle of Yuuri's shirt, half leaning on him.

An awkward silence hung in the air as both of their faces adopted a brilliant red.

Conrad smiled. "... the bed is over there..."

* * *

**T: (sigh) There's some...personal problems, so I ain't in the best mood when I write this. I hope it's fine. School is starting in two weeks time *going really depressed to the point of growing mushrooms* but ****I'll try my best to continue update this (if homework didn't kill me first)! As always, thankyou soo much for reviews *bow* (it's nice to know what you think about it) so keep R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**It's a little late to say this but...**

**(throws confetti) HAPPY 2011 MINNASAN! ^^**

**I hope all of you have a GREAT start of your new year and continue to be the AWESOME people you are! A HUGE thank you from me to these WONDERFUL human fellows that reviewed and are now part of my beautiful 2010 memories...**

**mihko sawatari28, setsuko teshiba, DomesticTo-oTChild, xYuuri, JessMess, Blue Eyes Angle 2, eclst, iNsAnE nO bAkA, pikeebo, alguien22792, oO0 neko518 0Oo, AshleyTangerine, yuuram2fangirl, Buzzbug82, Grazi-chan, Rita, YaoiInu, lili974WOLF, issm, nymphadora1982, Miyuki Meiru**

**(And of course everyone who read/fav/alert this! But typing the names would take forever, so...)**

**Shinou *bow gracefully*: Thou have my highest gratitude.**

**T (surprised) : Shinou? I thought you never appear at the intro?**

**Shinou *flash a brilliant smile*: I can't possibly miss such a special occasion.**

**T (O/ / /O) : Erm, okay...**

**(Ahem) Here is a chappie as a new year gift from me to you! But first, let's go through our usual drill...**

**Disclaimer:**

**T: Happy New Year! I've a present for you, Yuuri! **

**Yuu: Eh? Really?**

**Wolf: Hmph. Probably something useless.**

**T (grinned): Don't worry, Wolfie. You can have it too.**

**Wolf: My bad feeling is telling me to kill you before that happens...**

**T (look away): Anyway, let me shout out my new year resolution!**

**I SHALL SAVE _LOADS_ AND _TONS_ OF _MONEY_ TO BUY _KKM_ SO WE CAN ALL GET A _SEASON 4_! (echo~~)**

**Chap V**

_This is beyond embarrassing._

Wolfram's face flamed up at Conrad's preposterous suggestion and his first move was to shove the king away from him as far as possible, one which he regretted immediately after. When Yuuri lost balance from the rough push, he instinctively grabbed the nearest object to him - which, unfortunately, happened to be Wolfram himself - and fell to the floor of clothes with the stunned blond on top of him.

Wolfram _swore_ he must have done something to offend the gods.

Yuuri's eyes widened to the size of saucer as he felt a pair of lips crashing onto his. He blinked, momentarily numbed by the pain. As it gradually subsided, he became highly aware of Wolfram's body warmth, his hands on his bare chest, and then all that was left in his mind was his tender lips. So this is how they would feel like...

_Does Wolfram always taste so sweet?_

Said blond was currently shocked still. _Oh god, oh god, oh god._He was so close that he could feel Yuuri's crazily beating heart under his palms. _This isn't happening. Yuuri isn't kissing me. He isn't enjoying it..._Wolfram blinked back to reality as he felt a pair of arms around his waist, pulling him nearer to the body beneath. His blush intensified.

_Wh-what is that wimp thi-thinking?_

A soft chuckle entered their ears. "Well," Conrad tapped his chin thoughtfully, "If you're this eager, I suppose you don't _necessarily_ need a bed..." The kiss instantly broke.

"**_CONRAD!" _**The royal couple cried indignantly, cheeks erupting into a fiercer scarlet. Couldn't he see that they were embarrassed enough?

Conrad bowed apologetically. "Ah, my apologies. My presence here is clearly unwanted. I understand. Please, by all means, continue what you're doing..." He was obviously enjoying this.

_"We're not doing **anything!"**_

"I see. Well then, according to Gunter, (who is about to charge in any minute now) Yuuri's breakfast is ready. So if you'd kindly stop doing _nothing_ but lying on him..." Those two were just adorable, blushing like that_. _Conrad couldn't help but to smile wider at the two who were desperately trying to get away from each other.

"Re-remove your hand, you idiot!"

"Sorry! But-ah! You just ste-"

"You're the one who move-hey! Watch where you're going with that leg!"

"I can't see anything when your face is in mine...ow!"

It felt like forever, but they were _finally_ separated from each other.

Wolfram immediately dashed for the book whilst Yuuri changed into his normal uniform.

"See you at dinner." Wolfram brushed past Conrad in a way similar to escaping. Yuuri sighed, throwing a glance in the direction of his beaming godfather. Now he was the only one left to deal with this embarrassing situation.

"Conrad..." Yuuri began hesitantly when Conrad held up a hand. "I believe you, Yuuri. There's no need for any explanation; anything that happened earlier (ahem), it's not my place to question you. What that _is_ important right now is a healthy morning meal. Skipping your daily workout doesn't mean you can go through the day on an empty stomach."

Yuuri resisted the urge to hug him - Conrad was definitely the best! Not only that he was caring, he was also the most understanding person in the whole entire world!

Just one more thing..."Conrad, I'm sorry, but can you do me a favor?" "Sure. Anything for my king." Yuuri sucked in a breath to calm himself. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this.

"Can you ask Gwendal to hold off Gunter?"

T...T

Wolfram wanted to burn something.

He had this urge to toast something, or in this case, _everything_, so that he wouldn't feel like the only being that was on fire at the moment. A fire wielder who couldn't stand his own body heat. What irony. God only knows how Yuuri can affect him like this - a scene of his lips brushing hotly against Yuuri's flashed through his mind.

_Darn it!_ His face heated up and he slapped his cheeks in exasperation.

_Why won't this stupid heat on my face die down?_

After a long run to the stables, Wolfram breathed deeply to cool himself down.

"Wol-Wolfram!" A panting Ryolem finally caught up to him, wheezing loudly as he rested his hands on his knees, half bending over. Wolfram watched silently as he waited for him to catch his breath. "Run...fast...no...sweat..." What? Wolfram raised an eyebrow at the incoherent sentence.

Still heaving ragged breaths, Ryolem looked up at him. A curious look spread over his face. "You're red."

Wolfram nearly bit his own tongue at that observation. Was he that obvious? "Wh-what else do you expect after running non-stop here under this weather?" "But the weather is nice. Quite lovely, even." Ryolem stated, looking up at the sky. "That's...it was hot awhile ago!"

Ryolem wore a confused look. "Really? And here I thought it's getting windy...by the way, did something happen back there? I heard lots of noise coming from the room before Sir Weller walked in and there came a huge crash then you two started screaming his name and..." By now Wolfram was convinced that he looked redder than the ripest apple. A recap of those events was the last thing he needed - so he thrust the book into Ryolem's face.

"Oww!" Ryolem wailed, trying to hold onto his bleeding nose while juggling the book.

Wolfram gave an indifferent huff and went to take his horse. "Get a horse. We're leaving." Ryolem stared at him. "Wolfram," His voice sounded weird from pinching his nose. "I can see that you're reluctant to tell me the truth but quoting Alaude, 'violence is never the key to resolving a matter'. Such a refined noble as you should know better than inflicting pain on others for your own sake; surely there's another solution..." _There goes Ryolem and his philosophy quotes again. _

With a graceful leap and rolling eyes, Wolfram sat himself comfortably on the saddle. "I'll haul you after my horse if you don't get on one in 30 seconds."

Ryolem gasped, holding the book closer to him as a sort of shield. "Threatening others is hardly a noble act!" Wolfram rolled his eyes again. Sometimes he wondered why he hadn't burn him yet.

An hour later, Wolfram found himself rushing from street to street with a highly delighted scholar and a huge migraine.

"Wolfram, do you see that? See that?" Wolfram didn't reply as Ryolem ran up to a store ahead. He held up an exquisite ivory carving of the endangered species and scrutinized it. "It says that it's a dragon! Dragons! I heard that they still exist in these lands, is it true?"

"Yes," Wolfram answered with a bored tone, reining in the two horses beside him. "Yuuri adopted one of them." He frowned as he realized what he just mentioned unknowingly. _The topic ends up going back to him again. I'd to stop thinking about him._

"He does?" Ryolem almost dropped the delicate item in surprise. "A _dragon_? Yuuri-heika actually owns one of the legendary creatures?" Wolfram nodded. "It's blue in color and it's named Liesel." _But that wimp insists to call him Pochi._

"Liesel...that's a nice name!" Wolfram smiled proudly. "Of course, I'm the one who named him." _I _told_ him it's a **much **better name than Pochi._

"I wish I can see it...does it look exactly like this?" Ryolem held out the sculpture which Wolfram snorted at. "As if this fake replica can compare to Liesel's cuteness." "Eh? Cute? I thought dragons are all mighty and such." "Well, Liesel is the leader of the dragons now (1) so he looks more intimidating, but he's still cute in my opinion."

"Eeeeh? Leader? Liesel is the _head_ of dragons?"

(2 hours later…)

Ryolem plopped down at the fountain's side, stretching his legs happily as he drew in a deep breath. "Ah...I'm totally worn out."

"Then you shouldn't have run around so much..." Wolfram mumbled irritatingly as he tied the horses to a nearby post before sitting down beside him.

"You know, this is definitely the most interesting country I've ever seen! I've learnt a lot just by taking a walk through these markets and streets - the people here, their lifestyle, their culture...it's as if all those that I only know from dull history books come to life right before my eyes!" Ryolem turned around and gave him a big grin. "Thanks for coming with me too, Wolfram! You make this touring trip much more fun!"

Wolfram couldn't help but to smile softly at the scholar. Anyone would if someone spoke so highly of their country. He was a tad annoying sometimes (that was a huge understatement) but he never failed to make people warm up to him. He guessed that was part of the reason he'd been made ambassador.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "You're welcome, but don't expect me to do this again. It's a one-time thing."

"Eh? Why not? I thought you enjoy this as much as I do!" Wolfram could feel his eye twitched with irritation. "Excuse me, but which reaction have I given wrong to lead you to this false and absolutely unreal assumption?" Ryolem blinked in confusion. "Erm...you didn't complain?"

"If you'd just stop, for, awhile," Wolfram began calmly, "_You would have heard **loads **of it from me!"_

Ryolem cringed from the strident volume. "You're like a volcano spitting fire..."

"_Pardon?"_

Ryolem smiled feebly as he shook his head. "Nothing, nothing...I said I'm sorry." His smile wavered when Wolfram eyed him suspiciously. "Ah, I just remembered! You're a fire demon right? Why don't you show me some tricks while we rest?"

Wolfram stared at him as he considered that request. Well, they had nothing to do for now and there was no one around...so why not entertain him? A little trick wouldn't hurt; he'd show him what a demon could do. He held out an arm and snapped his fingers. Instantly a small, bright red flame sprouted from his index finger, taking a form of a mini fire dragon.

"Whoa! You do it without a summon chant?" Ryolem leaned in, staring unblinkingly at the gracefully dancing flame. Wolfram smirked in response. With an elegant flick of hand, the fire dragon curled up onto his arm and left soaring into the air, hovering just above the spurting fountain. "It's only a small flame – only stronger spells require chant summoning."

As Ryolem hummed in understanding, Wolfram twirled his finger in circles, directing the fire creature in several smooth spins before letting it whizzed through the streams of water. This continued for another five minutes before Wolfram readied his fingers to end this.

That was when the dragon was engulfed by a swirling mass of water. "What the—" The fountain was no longer spouting normally - water began swirling madly, putting out the poor animated fire as they merged together as one enormous vortex, threatening to suck in anyone near it.

He leaped to his feet instantly and slowly backed away from the abnormal fountain. Before he could take more than a few steps, the water suddenly froze for a few seconds in midair and fell back to the ground in a huge splash, raining water on them. Things happened so fast that both of them were mute for awhile.

"What was _that_?" Ryolem finally found his voice to ask. Wolfram remained silent as he stared warily at the now normally flowing water, furrowing his eyebrows as the water droplets trickled down his chin and into his collar. If he was certain of anything that he just witnessed, it was that magic was involved. Someone had manipulated the fountain – someone who can control water. Someone like...

He scowled as the image of a double black came to mind. It couldn't be him.

Cautiously, he took in his surroundings with a quick look around. Whoever it was, he must be near. He could've easily picked out his location if he heightened his senses - was that his imagination or did that tree's shadow look darker than the others? He unsheathed his sword and aimed it at its general direction before approaching.

(30 minutes earlier...)

"Shibuya, I assume something interesting happen?"

"Ye-ahem, no, Murata."

"Then mind explaining what you're doing?"

"I-I'm just worried, that's all."

"Worried enough to turn into a stalker?"

"Stal-no way! What makes you think that?"

"Let's see," Murata counted his reasons off his fingers, "You just sneaked out from the castle, we're now few feet away from the Xyrolia Ambassador and Lord Bielefeld...oh, and they are completely oblivious to our presence because we're hiding behind a tree - in general I think it's classified as _stalking_."

Yuuri was tongue-tied. He knew it wasn't right to follow Wolfram without him knowing - gah, he'd _so_barbecue him if he found out - but he had this feeling that letting Wolfram spending time alone with Ryolem, outside the castle gates was _not_a good idea. It was just a hunch, and he always trusted his instincts. At least, that was his logic behind this whole stalker-thingy. Besides, it'd been a long time since he last saw the town; taking a breather occasionally wouldn't hurt...if Gwendal decided to forgive him when he went back. He grimaced. Hopefully Gunter didn't make too much commotion about his absence to give him a headache.

"I hate to agree, but His Eminence is right." Conrad added with a hint of amusement.

His head dropped with a sigh. _I know that._However, having coming this far, he couldn't possibly go back now. Not to mention that Gwendal was most likely on the high to murder someone now. "Wait a minute, how do you know that I'm going out?" Murata always knew where to look for him - his so-called 'instincts' was starting to get suspicious.

"I've my sources," the Sage waved his hand nonchalantly.

"Why can't you tell me-"

"Yuuri, they are moving over to the fountain." Yuuri paused, looking over to where Conrad was pointing. There they were, right beside the fountain where Yuuri remembered talking with the blond before. His eyes softened at that memory. He really missed talking to him without a certain tension between them.

He frowned slightly as Wolfram smiled at Ryolem. From what he observed during his stal-ahem, trailing, the prince had been smiling nearly as much as he smiled at Greta. He was dying from curiosity and almost dashed forward several times to demand what they were talking about. Just what was it that made Wolfram flash a smile so easily?

A bright, orange flame lit on Wolfram's finger, transforming into a phoenix.

"Lovely," Murata commented as Yuuri continued to stare at his fiancé.

"Yeah…very lovely." He murmured absentmindedly, eyes trained on the blonde's slender form. Wolfram was beautiful – he always mistook him for an angel every time he set eyes on him – and the people who constantly crowded around him made absolutely sure that he wouldn't forget about that. Yuuri might be popular with girls, but he thought that had something to do with being a king and his features were considered a rare beauty by the female population here (or according to them, he's super cute).

On the other hand, Wolfram brought beauty to a completely divine level. Right now, under the afternoon sun, his sunny blond hair gave off a brilliant gold glow which nicely complimented his skin, whilst those pretty emerald orbs held a lively sparkle from the light reflecting off the crystalline water. His bangs fell around his face in an attractively careless way, and a smile of satisfaction tugged ever so lightly at the end of those luscious lips…

Yuuri gulped, suddenly aware of his hot cheeks and uncomfortably dry throat.

_Lus—_he groaned mentally. _I can't believe I used that word on Wolf. I mean, he's drop-dead gorgeous and extremely pretty – no! This is wrong! Even so I can't describe him like food! And how would I know how he tasted like anyway… On second thought, he actually tasted sweet…_

He licked his lips subconsciously before hammering his own head.

_Shoot**. **I can't stop thinking like this…_

He felt like a predator after its prey – an alien feeling that scared and excited him at the same time.

_Heaven knows what I'd do to Wolf if my line of thoughts kept going in this direction…_

"Yuuri?" He was tremendously grateful when Conrad's concerned voice broke his train of thoughts. However, his discomfort quickly returned at Murata's amused chuckle. "The 'lovely' you've in mind is clearly different than mine, huh?"

He chose to ignore the Great Sage – he didn't trust himself to not say anything stupid in his current state – and returned to his watching. This time he tried his best to place his attention on the fire dragon. "He never showed this to me." Yuuri said with a light pout on his face. Murata nearly burst out laughing at his obvious complaining tone. "That's because you always scream when he uses magic."

"_You_would if you see the size of those fireballs he sent after me!" Yuuri hissed back, "I told him I haven't been cheating but he's still dead-set on murdering me! It's nothing close to this…this…" he trailed off, glaring back at those two. No matter how he looked at it, everything was wrong with this picture. Ryolem was close to Wolfram. Too close.

"Shibuya, this is no doubt exceedingly intriguing for me, but you might want to go easy on yourself a bit," Murata said warningly. "Unbridled emotions can be deadly."

_What—_a look of astonishment spread across the dark-haired king's face. The fountain was going berserk.

_Oh hell._

Yuuri's anger evaporated immediately. The whirling terror gave into gravity right after, returning to its rightful place with a splash that hit an over-shocked Ryolem and a highly alarmed Wolfram in the face.

The three of them held their breath. Yuuri was terrified of what he'd done and of being discovered; Murata looked cheerful enough, ready to wave hello to Wolfram anytime while Conrad, as usual, had a calm smile plastered across his face.

Wolfram turned around to look in their direction, looking even more alluring with water dripping off his chin and his wet bangs sticking to his cheeks. Yuuri fisted his shirt. He could hear his heart beating loudly in his ears. He turned to Murata. "What do we do now?" His friend only shrugged. "Nothing, I suppose. I think he'd already sensed us."

Yuuri turned just in time to see the blonde pulling out his sword with his eyes narrowed. Panic seized him.

_If my cover was blown…_

Yuuri cringed. He could already feel the heat of those inhuman fireballs against his back and the screams of "How dare you abandon your Maou duties and stalk me?" bombarding him.

He shut his eyes. He couldn't bring himself to look at Wolfram's pissed off face when he found him.

He winced when he heard a surprised cry and the sound of metal sliding against wood. What happen? Why did Wolfram take so long to kill him?

Curious, he carefully peeled open one eye to peek – and his eyes opened completely. Right beneath his eyes, just above the bridge of his nose, was the side of a sword, its shining, sharp, deadly tip barely touching his fringe. He swallowed dryly.

_This is not good._

* * *

**T: You like your present, Yuu-chan?**

**Yuu (beam): It's very...nice, I like it.**

**Wolf (blushing madly and summoning fire): I'll kill you first thing in 2011!**

**T(scrambling for life): WUAAHH! CALM DOWN! **

**Shinou *chuckle*: Well, since the author is gone, I'll do the rest. *smiles* Firstly, Touhyou hopes that you like your new year gift. You're welcomed to leave reviews regarding your thoughts on this chapter, or simply to motivate this lazy updater (me from background among screams and shouts: HEY! Blame it on school and unreasonable teachers!). Of course, those who have a wish or hopes to accomplish something can ask for my blessing *winks*.**

**T: Oi! Don't flirt with the readers!**

**Shinou *bows with a smirk*: May thou have a wonderful year ahead...**

**T: You just ignored what I said!**


	6. Chapter 6

**T: Baaaaack~~! Yer all miss me? *Got hit by tons of rotten tomatoes***

**Wolf: We enjoy your absence very much. Now shut up.**

**T: (=3=) But...**

**Wolf: Touhyou DO NOT OWN KKM, and everything written here is PURELY FAN-MADE.**

**T: Hey - *gagged* mrrrph... (trans: here's Capitalo 6!)**

**CHAP IV**

Was someone hiding behind there?

Wolfram raised his sword, ready to cut down anyone that came out from behind the tree…

'Well, well, what do we have here?'

Startled by the sudden voice that invaded his mind, Wolfram tripped over his own foot and went falling forward. He managed to save his face from the ground as his sword dug deep into the bark, stuck to the side of the tree as an axe would. Wolfram held onto it for his dear life to balance himself.

All this while, he'd been screaming loudly on the inside.

'_Your Majesty? My mind! What! Why!_' Despite all his mind screams, he could still hear the light chuckle clearly from the other person.

'It hardly makes any sense when you put it like that, dear Wolfram.'

'You _know_ what I'm talking about!' Wolfram stood up from his half-kneeling position and dusted himself off furiously. He paused as a frown came over his face. Was that a gulp he heard? It sounded like it came from the back of the tree…

'I don't think that my visit to your mind is that surprising now.' His attention was back to the annoying voice in his head. That sound was probably his imagination anyway. 'You're saying that I should get use to this abuse to my mental privacy?'

Another chuckle. 'You're free to interpret it whichever way you like – I'm only here because it seems that something interesting is going on here.'

'How do you—'

"Wolf? Wolf! Are you alright?" Wolfram turned to see Ryolem walking towards him with their horses that he went to get. "I saw you fell! Are you hurt anywhere?" Wolfram huffed, insulted by the very idea of him getting injured over a little trip. He only scraped his knees – no big deal. He raked a hand through his silky hair, slightly frowning at its dampness. "Do I look hurt?" Ryolem looked him over carefully. "Your knees…"

"They're fine." Wolfram said, grasping his sword and gave it a tug. It didn't budge the least, still firmly sheathed in side of the trunk. _Tch._ Despite the enormous size of the tree, the sword appeared to have penetrated it. Was it hollow? He frowned slightly as he poured in more strength and with a quick pull, successfully removing his weapon.

He thought of checking his sword for blood but thought the better of it. No one jumped out to attack even when the sword came out from the other side. That could only mean that there wasn't a single soul behind there at all. It figured. Anyone sane enough wouldn't be this stupid to hide himself at such an obvious place like behind a tree when planning an attack. Besides, if his sword had stabbed something, he'd hear a scream at least.

'I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. There are all sorts of humans after all.'

Wolfram made a small disbelieving noise as he sheathed his sword. 'You don't seem quite convinced?'

'Humans can't use magic, Your Majesty. Unless they have Hou…' Wolfram stared at Ryolem, a suspecting look taking place on his face. He had been observing for quite some time, but no one in the castle, full demon or not, had been experiencing the ill effects of the Houzeki even when Ryolem was close enough to sneeze on. If he himself hadn't felt that usual sickening chill on his skin the one time he was near those stones, he seriously doubted that they were genuine.

There was a high chance that humans might have discovered a way to hide the stones' presence. Or they had recently unearthed some new type of Houzeki that didn't weaken demons unless they came in near direct contact. Either way, the possibilities were unnerving and Wolfram almost jumped at the urge to spill out everything to Gwendal. Almost. He'd been told to keep everything to himself until he came out with an explanation that didn't give out Shinou's involvement in its discovery.

'Ah, my mistake. Let me rephrase that: There are all sorts of humans _and_ demons after all.'

Wolfram didn't bother to suppress his raising eyebrow this time. 'You're saying that this is a fellow demon's doing?'

'Am I now?' Wolfram inwardly growled at the offhanded manner he was answered. 'Don't avoid the question. You know something, don't you?'

There was no reply. Wolfram tensed slightly at the lack of response. Shinou was definitely hiding something, and Wolfram's guts were telling him that it probably wouldn't benefit anyone.

'Trust me; you don't want to know what I know.' Shinou offered helpfully. Ignoring the fact that his private thoughts were being read again, Wolfram took him by his word, but it didn't comfort him one bit. 'At any rate, shouldn't you focus on that human instead? That look he's having doesn't say anything good about his opinion on your mentality.'

Reminded of the still standing Ryolem, who had been giving him peculiar looks for quite awhile now, Wolfram snapped slightly, "What?" "Your expressions keep changing…" _Like a madman._ He didn't say it out loud but his slowly averting eyes made it as clear as day.

_Great. Now he thinks I'm nuts._ Wolfram decided that he needed to stop talking to Shinou in his mind.

A sigh escaped his lips as he considered his next step. How did he end up in this mess again? And why the heck did he put himself through this when he knew it'd be such a pain? Then he remembered. Oh yes, the friend.

"Enough dilly-dallying. Viscount…" Wolfram paused, searching for the barely acquainted name in his memory. "Viscount Ethelbert." "…yeah, him. We better head to his residence now if we wanted to make it back to the castle before dinner." Not waiting for a reply, he grabbed the reins from Ryolem's hands.

"But I plan to stay overnight…" A silencing glare came his way. "Right. Dinner."

…

Ethelbert Manor.

An old-fashioned mansion with ivy crawling all over every inch of wall and hidden in the looming shadows of the surrounding trees, it looked more like a haunted mansion that had been deserted for years. The only things that indicated its living occupants were the neatly-trimmed garden and the newly-painted iron wrought gates that stood proudly in Wolfram's way.

Still, the master of the house must have been very antisocial if he chose to live this far out, way distant from the main town and in the middle of a forest.

Wolfram decided that when he met this viscount, he'd make sure that he would always thought twice before messing with him, Lord Wolfram von Bielefeld.

_If_ he got to interact in person, that is.

Hands stiff from clutching his hilt too long, he flexed his fingers a bit as he continued to throw annoyed glares at the guards who were miserably twitching under them, fidgeting from their fixed positions uncomfortably every now and then.

_Why the hell did he have to wait **outside** while Ryolem sat comfily **inside**?__!_

For the umpteenth time, he chewed on his lip in frustration as he tried to sneak glances of the interior of the mansion through the enormous iron gates. Damn. Only the trees-lined pathway that stretched on forever could be seen from here and he couldn't go around to the back either! That pair of guards were watching him like hawks. To think he actually agreed to this humiliating treatment! He was a lord, darn it!

Anger was not the only thing that consumed him. Right now, raw disappointment was growing in the pit of his stomach, and Wolfram wondered if anything would go right for him at all. He'd endured all this torture, going out of his way to accompany the ambassador this far out here to the outskirts of town, and _this_ was all he got? Having the gates locked on him?

He wouldn't let it go like this. This opportunity was too much of a good one to miss. If there was any chance that he was going to get a single clue out of all these mysteries, now would be it.

'Now that is the spirit.' Shinou whistled. Wolfram mentally sighed. That person wouldn't leave his mind for a second.

He drew in a deep breath, smoothing out his furrowing brows. Even in his worst mood, he could make this work. Putting up a poker face was never a challenge for him.

"Pardon me, but is it alright for me to take a look around the garden?" He asked politely with the best smile he could muster.

The two guards seemed to be a little fazed by his sudden change of attitude as a light blush colored their faces. Wolfram smiled inwardly as the one on his face grew wider. He hated being called pretty, but at times like this he was glad he was. Everyone loved beautiful things. That was what he grew to learn, and past experiences taught him that the smallest mint of sweetness could throw off one's sense of judgment.

A low hum of approval rang in his head. 'Good thing that you take after me. Isn't life easier when you look like me?'

Wolfram barely held back a grimace that threatened to spread over his face.

"We…we're sorry, you've to stay here until master says otherwise." Hnn. He knew they would say that. He was ready to counter that, but…

'Well, go on.' Shinou urged impatiently. 'You know what to do.'

Really, Wolfram was starting to hate that line. _Knowing_ what to do and _willing_ to do it were completely different cases.

"But…you see, according to my _friend,_ who just went in, that's going to take a really _long_ time, and I'm _bored_ out of my mind here." Wolfram pouted slightly, cringing on the inside. This was downright embarrassing, whining like this. But he had to do this; there was no other choice – unless the one that involved knocking the guards out cold and stirred up a huge commotion was counted as one – hell, did he **ever** get to have one?

Thank god that Yuuri wasn't here to see him like this. He'd absolutely bury himself alive if the double-black Maou ever saw him acting all whiny over some random guards outside some stranger's mansion. Of course, if the young king was here, they wouldn't be shut out and regarded as some highly dangerous individual – that's how harmless Yuuri appeared to others. Besides his friendly and humble manner, and his unbelievable kindness, what attracted people to him the most was his charisma. Wolfram could understand why Yuuri was so likeable (except his wimpiness). No matter how he tried, he'd always unknowingly and subconsciously lower his guard towards him.

Another thing that Wolfram had trouble ignoring was the growing king's increasing handsomeness. He'd grown a couple inches taller over the years, but due to the demon blood that flowed in his veins, his growth was slower than average humans, and even now there were remains of his boyish features. Nonetheless, he was getting better-looking and Wolfram found looking away without a blush when the Maou smiled nearly impossible.

So if he could help it, he'd never look in his direction.

He heard Shinou clucked his tongue. 'That's not good. No wonder you hardly notice even when he stares at you _that_ hard.'

Wolfram's eyes widened a small fraction as pieces of memories where Yuuri's eyes had set on him flooded his mind. His gaze was always so carefree and cheerful. Til recently…Wolfram felt his heart leaped a little at the remembrance of Yuuri's dark, watching eyes of an undecipherable mixture of hesitation, confusion, fear and…want?

He bit down on the side of his cheek rather harshly to crush the rising small hope bubble. No. Not now. Yuuri might have been crossing a tad over the line of friendship, but that didn't mean he was willing to take their odd relationship any further. There was an even greater possibility that he didn't understand what he was doing.

_Don't let yourself _hope_,_ Wolfram warned himself, _that's when the pain cycle starts all over again._ And despite the growing ache in his chest, he added with sarcasm, _that kiss is – just like the slap, the duel, and everything else – an accident._

'Wolfram…actually, Yuuri…' Shinou began, but Wolfram's attention quickly shifted elsewhere when a hand waved before his face.

"Hello? Did you hear what I said?" The guard stopped waving when he got Wolfram listening to him. "You can't go–" "I know!" Wolfram cut off the man before he was rejected and leaned in a little for good measure. He almost laughed at the man's flustered face. "If you're that worried, how about one of you come along with me?"

From the men's nervous lip-licking, Wolfram could tell that they were really tempted with the idea, but their previous orders prevented them from accepting it. All they needed was a little push. "Please?" Emerald orbs glinted pleadingly.

Apparently this puppy-look face worked not only on his brothers but other people as well.

"Err, I guess a short stroll won't hurt, don't you agree?" The first guard asked, to which the other nodded vehemently.

Wolfram nearly cried out in joy as he stepped through the opened gates, but he managed to refrain from running in as the other guard led him to the gardens. He glanced at the guard at his side. "Mister…"

"The name is Roy. Just call me that. We don't use surnames around here."

Wolfram frowned a little at the informality with a stranger. "R…Roy, does the viscount has any special interest?" _Like collecting weird stones that endangered his own kind?_

"Special interest?" Roy squinted, looking deep in thought. "I don't think so. None that I know of, anyway. We guards don't know much here, mind you. Our job is to watch the gates and make sure no suspicious people enter the mansion's premises." He grinned apologetically at Wolfram's forced smile. "Sorry, we're only carrying out our orders. You don't look suspicious at all, you know. It's just that the master – Lord Ethelbert, he doesn't like guests if he could help it. Come to think of it, he barely has visitors. Usually it's just the servants delivering stuff over."

"Stuff?" "Yeah, they always come at night though, with small sacks…" Realizing he'd let out too much, Roy cleared his throat and looked away, missing Wolfram's astounded expression. Finally, a clue!

"By the way, what's your name?" Wolfram practically flinched from the question. He had purposely hid his identity up until now – mainly why these people had the guts to make him stay out here – so that he wouldn't bring trouble to the royal family if his investigations were ever to be found out. Now that he was asked for his name…

"Wolf." He tried to sound as casual as possible. "Everyone calls me that." Well, it wasn't entirely a lie.

Roy opened his mouth, about to say something when a loud cry came from the main gates. He stopped dead in his tracks, his forehead creasing as it sounded again. Wolfram didn't know what was going on, but there seemed to be some commotion at the entrance, and he couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to slip away from the guard.

"You go on," he nodded to the direction where a cry louder in volume echoed up the pathway they were on. "I'll just take a quick look around." To assure him, Wolfram raised his arms up. "Not going anywhere or touching anything I shouldn't. Promise."

Roy wasn't at all convinced but another sharp yelp broke his last ounce of hesitation. "Alright. Don't wander too far off. Stay _only_ in the main garden. Like I said, we guards by the gates don't know much about what is going on behind these walls, and definitely not close with the guards inside. If they caught you I won't be able to help you. So take care, 'kay?" Roy didn't know what got into him to turn him into a nagging mom. He was worried about this pretty young man he just met for reasons he couldn't discern. Maybe it was the mansion's ever-present ominous atmosphere, or the creepy sounds and cries he heard at night, he didn't know. "And never, ever, _ever_ step into the garden behind the mansion. That's a restricted area."

Giving him a small wave, Wolfram nodded. "I get it, just go."

As soon as Roy disappeared down the lane, Wolfram took a sharp turn to the left where the courtyard was. He stopped every few steps to peek around a tree or glance warily around him for signs of movement. According to Roy, more guards were stationed here; the guards outside had never came this near to the main house before, it seemed. Why the secrecy?

That reminded him of his last warning. The garden behind the mansion. Why was it off limits?

He decided to investigate that place first before he went to look for Ryolem. Setting off in a new direction, he quietly and cautiously made his way around the mansion like a mouse until he saw it – a pair of crooked gates, leaning forward precariously with its hinges about to come off. Located right at the back of the manor, this particular garden appeared to be a tiny section of the forest, fenced up with the same tall brick walls that enclosed the manor. A look of dread settled on his face as several twisting branches swayed eerily over the metal gates with peeled off paint. This mansion was seriously in need of some maintenance. Even its garden looked like a long abandoned cemetery.

A large lock was half-dangling by long, thick chains that bind the gates loosely together. Strange enough, it looked brand new compared to the rest. He walked over and held it in his palm, turning it over and back as he scrutinized it for any sign of rust. Nothing.

_Does this mean this gate is still being used? But why not get a stronger one that might hold better against intruders? This rusting junk would fall over with the slightest impact of wind._

He held his breath when he heard a soft sound of something brushing against the leaves. He waited for awhile but nothing came. _Maybe it's my imagination._ Dropping the lock, he tensed up as his ears caught the rustling again, this time clearer. Someone or something was following him.

Turning around agonizingly slow, Wolfram chanted a spell lighter than whisper under his breath, secretly summoning his power. If what Roy had said was true, this place could be littered with Houzeki and if whatever it was that prevented the demon-weakening element from getting to him was gone, magic would fail. But alarming his enemy by drawing his sword was riskier.

He had one shot.

There was a movement in the tall bush beside him. A huge fire burst from his hand as Wolfram spun around, about to cast the fire on his hand towards it when a small purple head popped up from it.

"Wait!" Wolfram held back his power just in time before it hit the tiny body. His eyes visibly widened at the sight of his new company.

A kid? What was a child barely older than seven doing here?

"Who are you?" he asked, lowering down his hand but maintaining the fire. He wasn't about to relax just because the opponent was a child. Do not judge a book by its cover. Yuuri taught him that. Weak, useless and a wimp. That was what he appeared to him at first and he couldn't wait to rid himself of such a worthless king. Look at how far he was taken in by him now.

"That's my question," the kid put up a grown-up frown that looked a bit ridiculous on him. He eyed the evilly cackling fire warily. "And please put that out, for god's sake. It's dangerous to my home."

His home? Wolfram arched an eyebrow at the poorly adorned child with his tattered clothes and dirty face. "You're Ethelbert's son?"

The blue-eyed child blinked, his face scrunching up while thinking. "Ethelbert? Who's that?"

Who's that? He lived here and he didn't know? Now Wolfram was the one confused. "He's the master of this house."

The child looked totally aghast. "You're lying!" he cried out suddenly, completely forgetting the burning threat in Wolfram's hand as he jumped at him. "**Brother Raven** is the master! Not that Ethel-whoever! It's him! It's him!"

Wolfram stared at the angered child. Raven? He put his other free hand to his head. Ugh. Just when he thought he was close to solving this mess, more questions surfaced. A sigh of exasperation left his lips. "Raven…he owns this mansion?"

The kid nodded his head vehemently, as if afraid that Wolfram wouldn't believe him. "Yes! This is his house and he brought me here since mine was burnt by this horrible fire, and I lost my parents…" He stretched out his hands as far as possible to exaggerate the fact. He glared at Wolfram's fire with the same cautiousness as before and retreated back to the bush.

Wolfram glanced between the child and the red flame on his palm. Then he dispelled the magic, extending a hand to the kid. "I'm sorry for scaring you. My name is Wolf. What's yours?" he tried forming a friendly smile as he eyed his hand suspiciously. "Erm…I'm kind of new around here so I might have mistaken the real head of the house. Can you tell me who this Raven is? He sounds like a nice person."

"K…id." What? Wolfram thought he'd heard wrong. "Come again?"

"My name is KID!" Kid stepped out from his hiding spot with an angry pout and red face. "Everyone gives me that name because they say I'm puny – I'm not! Not! Not! – always going on and on about how I'll never grow another inch…don't laugh!"

Wolfram blinked at the small, shaky forefinger that was pointed at him. He wasn't laughing. There was only this small, unnoticeable twitch at the corner of his mouth. He wasn't sure whether that was from irritation or plain desire to laugh.

"Well, _Kid_, nice to meet you." The child still didn't shake his hand, much to Wolfram's relief. His hands didn't look like they had been washed for weeks.

Closing his eyes, Kid turned up his nose to the side with a great huff. Apparently he hadn't got over the awkwardness from his introduction. He opened his left eye a little to look at Wolfram. "You're new, you say? Then that makes me your senior! You must listen to my orders!"

…hah?

Wolfram was certain that his whole face's muscles were jolting involuntarily.

_First I have to stand outside like an idiot, then I've to act like a **real** idiot just to get in…and this random kid comes out from nowhere and demands me to obey him? What a brat!_

He shut his eyes tightly and attempted to calm himself by thinking this through. Finally he opened them and stared at Kid.

"Why are you my senior? Do you work here?"

Kid leaned forward with an I-know-all smile. "Fufufu, no, but I'm the only one who can move around as I like around here. That makes me the boss."

"I don't get it."

Kid's thin eyebrows furrowed. "Whoa, you know nothing at all. Seeing that you haven't met Brother Raven…who brings you here?"

"The…guards."

"Guards, huh. I never like them. Brother Raven is nice, but not those big meanies." Kid stuck out a tongue. "What's your story then?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, how did you lost your parents? That's why you are brought here, right? Or did you commit some crime like old Bard did? Hmm?" Wolfram stared at Kid. From the sound of it, there were more people like him around here…orphans and…even criminals?

"I…err…my family died." _Forgive me, Mother, Big Brother, little big brother..._

"Oh. I'm sorry. At least I still have my brother." Kid looked at him sympathetically before his gaze landed on his clothes. "Those look pretty posh. You came from a rich family?"

Wolfram cursed his neat appearance for the first time. "Yeah, I'm quite well-off." _You're talking to a royalty, kid._

Kid tilted his head aside. "How did you become poor?" Wolfram squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his irritation level nearing its limit. "Can we please stop talking about this?"

"Oops. Sorry again. Never mean to pry." Kid smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, let's not stand here all-day. Where's your guard?"

"G-guard?" "Yeah, the one who brought you? Ask him to open the gates."

Oh no. "What for?" Kid's eyebrow shot up in an 'Are-you-stupid?' way. He jabbed a thumb at the dilapidated garden. "To get into Home, of course. Everyone goes in through here. Only I'm small enough – ahem, _just right_ to fit through the hole in the north wall – you're too big."

Wolfram's eyes went wide. "Hom—this desolate garden? It's locked too! How can you call it home when you've no freedom?"

"You should understand! None of us is safe out there! Everyone bullies us because we're alone or powerless…Especially those filthy rich nobles! They take away everything – our money, our houses, and our families! You…like us…you should understand this feeling…" His big, blue eyes were brimmed with tears as Kid's lips trembled. "…of having nowhere to go, no one to turn to."

Wolfram narrowed his eyes, the weight of his lie tugging painfully at his conscience. It wasn't at all neccessary to lie to a child. Maybe he should have told him the truth.

"Kid…" There was a sharp pain at the back of his neck and he let out a grunt. His vision blurred and the last thing he saw before falling forward to the ground was Kid's terrified face, his hands clutching tightly to his mud-stained shirt.

_I knew I shouldn't have let my guard down._

_

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**T: (wipes sweat) Whoa. Longest chapter I've ever written in my life. I just realized that the whole thing centers on Wolfie! (What happen to Yuu-chan? XP) Reeeeaal boring plot development, but please bear with it until Yuuri comes back (he appears quite often in Wolfie's thoughts though XD). I hope this chapter isn't too confusing (me = hopeless case in writing anything that runs on logic *sigh*) and if there's any question, feel free to ask^^! (Or point out parts that _make no sense at all!_)**

**Once again, let me shower you all with THANKYOU for reviews! (bow~) They're helpful in letting me know what you like (or hate)!**

**P.S. HAPPY VAL'S DAY MINNASAN! :D *hug~~***

**To CielPhantomhive: Lol, you really like Ryolem that much? Even I can't come up with that much of adjectives to describe him. XD**


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